What animal has the ears of a bat, the teeth of a rat, and a bony middle finger that taps on trees in the dark to find hidden insects? Meet the aye-aye - one of the most intriguing creatures on Earth!
In
The Intriguing Aye-Aye, young readers will explore the dark rainforests of Madagascar to discover the world's largest nocturnal primate. With a skeletal middle finger that taps on wood to find grubs, front teeth that never stop growing, and ears that rotate like radar dishes, the aye-aye is a marvel of evolution.
Inside this book, readers will learn:
- How the aye-aye uses percussive foraging, tapping on branches up to eight times per second and listening for the hollow echo of an insect tunnel hidden inside the wood
- Why the aye-aye is the only primate with continuously growing incisors, teeth so rodent-like that scientists first classified it as a type of squirrel in 1780
- How the aye-aye fills the same ecological role as a woodpecker on an island where no woodpeckers exist, a stunning example of convergent evolution
- The story of Daubentonia robusta, a giant aye-aye two to three times larger than the living species that went extinct about one thousand years ago
- Why many Malagasy people consider the aye-aye fady (taboo), believing it brings curses, and how conservation programs are working to change these beliefs
Packed with
fun facts, a
glossary,
quiz questions, and
hands-on activities, this chapter book makes learning about aye-ayes an adventure.
Written at a second-grade reading level. Perfect for young readers ages 7-9.
Book 30 in the Chapter Books for Young Explorers series. 
