Brian Cox Meets An Aye-Aye

Here's a lovely clip of Professor Brian Cox with an Aye Aye lemur in this clips from the BBC "Wonders of Life" series. Brian gives us a nice close up of his long bony finger.

Last Chance To See the Aye-Aye?

Mark Carwardine has an article on the BBC Earth News site about the upcoming episode of the TV series about the Aye-Aye Lemur.

One of the many repercussions of Madagascar's coup, which took place in March 2009, has been a dramatic rise in criminal networks plundering the country's protected areas for precious hardwoods and wildlife.
[...]
the recent breakdown in law and order, and the unwise withdrawal of foreign aid agencies, has wiped the smile from many faces.

From a wildlife point of view, in particular, it has resulted in huge numbers of lemurs, including several endangered species, being captured for the pet trade or butchered for sale to restaurants.

Baby Aye-Aye Lemur at Denver Zoo

Denver Zoo has been celebrating the birth of a baby Aye-Aye Lemur, only the second to be born in the USA. ZooBorns.com has the news and pictures, along with this YouTube video.

Denver Zoo is proud to announce the birth of a new aye-aye, a rare endangered primate found in Madagascar. The male infant was born Saturday, April 18, but still does not have a name. The infant’s birth is significant as it is only the second aye-aye to be born at a North American zoo as well as the first to be conceived at a North American zoo. The new aye-aye is currently in a nest box in Denver Zoo’s Emerald Forest building inside the Primate Panorama exhibit. Visitors will be able to see the youngster as he grows and becomes more self sufficient.

The newborn had a low birth weight, but Denver Zoo veterinary and primate staff diligently provided supplemental care and intense management of mom and infant. Eventually this resulted in appropriate weight gains and successful maternal care by the infant’s mother. His weight at birth was 82 grams, but he soon doubled that in roughly two week’s time to 164 grams as of May 4, 2009.

If anyone visits and gets any more pictures, do let me know as I'd be delighted to post them on the site.

Following the comments on the ZooBorns site led me to this article on the previous birth at San Fransisco Zoo, and this super video.

Stephen Snaps an Aye-Aye

Stephen Fry added this picture of an Aye-Aye lemur to his Twitter feed the other day.

Raz the Aye-Aye Born at Bristol Zoo

Please welcome new born Aye-Aye lemur "Raz" to the world. Raz was born in captivity at Bristol Zoo about two months ago, and is being hand-reared by his keepers. Sky News has the story.

His name is short for Razafindranriatsimaniry - a Malagasy name meaning "son of a Prince or noble man who envies nobody".

One of his keepers, Caroline Brown, said: "We made the decision to hand rear this infant in advance of his birth because his mother has not had much success rearing her babies.

"So far he is doing well. He is gaining weight and seems strong. Aye ayes are quite slow developing babies and require an intensive feeding regime.

(Image from Sky News and Bristol Zoo Gardens)

Iain Gardner Animations

I thought I'd share these interesting animations by Iain Gardner from the UK.

Firstly, check out his film "Flight of the Dodo" which features Carl Jones talking about his work in Mauritius with the Pink Pigeon and Echo Parakeet.

And now, check out these "Sketchbook" animations of endangered animals such as Aye-Aye, Gorilla, Polar Bears and Rhinos. Iain says "These studies are as much about memory as they are observation. Memories are all we will have left of these species unless more is done to protect these wonderful creatures in the wild."

Aye-Aye Lemur

Gorilla

Aye-Aye Kintana Videos

Here's a couple of videos of Kintana, the Aye-Aye baby from Bristol Zoo. Cute? You be the judge...

Doctor Who: The Last Dodo

The current issue of Doctor Who Magazine (#381) features an interview with novelist Jacqueline Rayner about her Tenth Doctor novel "The Last Dodo". She said that the idea of an "I-Spy book of extinct animals" tickled her, something that would be, on the face of it, impossible... Unless you were a Time Lord.

Doctor Who Magazine asked the question:

DWM: Was your interest perhaps piqued by [former Doctor Who Script Editor] Douglas Adams' Last Chance To See? You've referred to a few of the same very endangered species as he did - the aye-aye, the kakapo and so on...
No, I've been interested as long as I can remember - I was a passionate member of the then-World Wildlife Fund. But both the radio series and book of Last Chance To See are heartrending pieces of work, which I deliberately didn't reread while doing my research - I didn't want to risk subconsciously plagiarising anything. But anyone who's not experienced Last Chance To See, please go out and get it now!

Aye-Aye Lemurs: Videos of baby Kintana

I just discovered a couple of videos on You Tube of Kintana, the baby Aye-Aye Lemur who was born back in 2005.

And thanks to John who sent me this nice endangered animals slide show over at Slate.com. First endangered animal featured here is the Aye-Aye, with a fabulous big picture of (possibly the same) baby in captivity.

Yes, we're talking about something grotesque here, so grotesque, in fact, that locals consider it to be an evil omen and kill the animal on sight. But losing it would mean the collapse of an entire branch of the mammalian evolutionary tree.

The article links through to the ARKive video page on Aye-Ayes where you'll find lots of great movies of the Aye-Aye Lemur in skeletal fingering action.

Aye-Aye Lemurs: Picture of Kintana

Here's an Italian blog page with a great picture of a baby Aye-Aye lemur - Placida Soffitta (Google Translation to English)

This may or may not be Kintana, the Aye-Aye born at Bristol Zoo a couple of years ago. Our blog entries from April 2005 #1 and April 2005 #2 have more pictures.

Madagascar: Presidential election increases Slash and Burn

WildMadagascar.org reports on a disturbing increase in deforestation or Slash & Burn as the people of Madagascar prepare to go to the polls on December 3rd for a Presidential election. The destruction is devastating news for the endangered lemurs on the island.

"Hell just started here," said Eric Mathieu (www.marojejy.com), a French conservationist who has lived in Andapa in northeast Madagascar for 13 years while working to preserve Marojejy National Park and Anjanaharibe-Sud Special Reserve. "The slash-and-burn is far worse than usual this year. With presidential elections coming, there is no control. You just have to sit and watch as a useless witness as the forests burn. Large portion of primary forests outside protected areas have been destroyed on the road from Sambava-Andapa. While the politicians campaign, the forests burn. Lemurs are losing habitat"

BBC Radio: Planet Earth Under Threat

Coming up on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 20th November (9:00-9:30pm) is a new series of Planet Earth Under Threat presented by Gabrielle Walker. In the first show she witnesses the melting of the Greenland icecap, sees the effects of warming on corals in the Pacific and discovers how changing rainfall is causing the lemurs of Madagascar to suffer. But the news is not all bad - the red fox and the moose are on the march.

The show has its own blog at Planet Earth Under Threat, and each episode will be available online for 7 days following the broadcast. Episode One.

AUDIO - Carl Jones, Pink Pigeons and Lemurs - Radio 4 programme alert!

Tonight on BBC Radio 4, 9pm BST (4PM ET), "A Life With Lemurs" is introduced by Gabrielle Walker.

In the 1970s, Patricia Wright left her a life as Brooklyn housewife to begin a journey that led to her becoming one of the world's leading lemur experts.

Gabrielle Walker travels to Madagascar to meet Pat and the lemurs, finding out what it's like to discover an entire new species, and encountering Mother Blue - one of the oldest animals in the forest.

The programme is available to Listen Again here.

Back on 25th July, the programme was devoted to conservationist Carl Jones's work with the Pink Pigeons!. Click to Listen Again to "A Life With Pink Pigeons".

Conservationist Carl Jones left Wales 26 years ago for Mauritius - once home to the infamous Dodo - to try to stop the unique Mauritian pink pigeon sharing the Dodo's fate. Among the island's ebony forests and giant tortoises, he tells Grant Sonnex what his life's work has taught him, and why he is optimistic for the future of conservation worldwide.

AYE-AYE LEMURS - Final Chance To Save

The second series of the TV series with the disconcertingly familiar name of "Final Chance To Save" has begun airing on the Sky TV network in the UK, Fridays at 8pm. The series features various celebrities making trips around the world to visit endangered animals.

One of the shows features talented actress Miranda Richardson (Blackadder) on a visit to Madagascar to visit the Aye-Aye Lemurs.

Madagascar, one of the world's last great wildernesses and home to 530 of the world's most endangered species, is home to the Aye-Aye, a creature that famously inspired Tolkien's Gollum from the Lord of the Ring's trilogy. Thought to be extinct in 1961, the Aye-Aye, a primate like us and a close evolutionary relative, was rediscovered and for the last four decades it has been on the world's most endangered list. If we don'’t act now, we could lose the species Miranda describes as the '‘underdog'’ of the natural world.

Dave Haddock reports that the Miranda Richardson/Aye-Aye episode show airs on:
Sky One - Friday 21st July, 8pm
Sky Two - Saturday 22nd July, 7pm

The series also features a Gorilla visit from mountaineer Joe Simpson, who experienced and wrote about his harrowing mountain adventure in "Touching the Void".

Other endangered animals visited in this series include Jaguars (Comedian Bill Bailey) and Tigers (Sanjeev Bhaskar).

No word on a US broadcast of the "Final Chance To Save" series, nor of any potential DVD release.

LEMURS - Three new lemur species discovered

MSNBC is one of many outlets that reported the discovery of three new species of mouse lemur recently. Here's one of the new primates, the Microcebus Mittermeieri...

Picture by Mark Thiessen / National Geographic Society

Famed for its lemurs, Madagascar now has three new species of the shy primates.

The three new mouse lemurs were officially named in a paper published in June by the International Journal of Primatology and announced at a conservation conference on Wednesday in the Malagasy capital.

Full article at MSNBC.com

AYE-AYE LEMURS - Duke Lemur Center Has New Research Focus

Duke University's Lemur Center has a new focus on research after 40 years of work, so says an extensive article on the ABC News website.

The 40-year-old center which houses the largest collection of lemurs outside their native Madagascar has a new name, a new director, $8 million in newly pledged funding from Duke and a new research focus on lemurs as evolutionary models.
[...]
Only last fall, the center celebrated the first birth of an aye-aye a nocturnal lemur that is becoming increasingly rare in Madagascar in captivity to captive-born parents.

The hurdle was a high one because the father, Merlin, never learned the social skills of wooing and mating. It took a two-year visit with other aye-ayes at the San Francisco Zoo and another two years of coaching by handlers at Duke before Merlin figured out what to do.

Way to go Merlin!!

MADAGASCAR - Douglas Concert

Isle of Man Today reports on a special concert in Douglas, Isle of Man on Saturday, 17th of June 2006 which aims to raise funds for the church, and the people, environment and lemurs of Madagascar.

The people of Madagascar, its environment and even the native lemur are set to benefit from money raised at a concert of songs from the musicals at the Abbey Church Hall in Ballasalla this Saturday.

One of the performers — Sarah Mordaunt — has organised the concert on behalf of her sister Christine, who in January 2007 will leave Ballasalla and set off on a 10-week charity exhibition in Madagascar organised by the Azafady Madagascar Pioneer project. Proceeds will also go towards church funds.

AYE-AYE LEMURS - Duke Lemur Center: New Name, New Goals

Duke University has announced that their primate's 40-year-old home is getting a makeover and a new name.

“Our new name, the Duke Lemur Center, reflects a refocusing of our scientific goals and overall mission,” said Anne D. Yoder , the center’s director since Jan. 1.

Although the center houses several types of prosimians, a suborder of primates, lemurs are the stars. “It makes sense to rename the center,” Yoder said. “Its unique value lies with its collection of lemurs, which is the largest outside of their native Madagascar, an island off the southeast coast of Africa. We want to leverage this resource to benefit science.”

The center will officially unveil its new name and scientific agenda on Saturday, April 29, at a celebration beginning at 5 p.m. at the center.

AYE-AYE LEMURS - Video

Courtesy of the YouTube site, here's a marvellous video of an Aye-Aye lemur in Twig-Technology action! Cool!

JOHN CLEESE LEMURS

The Mirror is among a number of outlets reporting on the news that John Cleese (of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers fame) has been honoured with a newly discovered species of lemur being named after him.

The small woolly Avahi Cleesei lives on leaves in a remote part of Madagascar.

The name is a tribute to 66-year-old Cleese's conservation work, including a documentary about the plight of endangered woolly lemurs.

Its long legs are the only physical similarity to the actor, famous for his Silly Walks sketch.