Sunday, May 29, 2005

Aye-Aye

Merlin sent me a link to the pagan hierarchy (who looks down on who). Great fun, and in my experience just about too.

Went to see the latest Star Wars movie yesterday. Probably the best of the prequels. Partly for the stunning opening sequence. Partly because while the plot is hugely dodgy and the dialogue incredibly poor, at least they were barely given screen time. Claire marked it down for lack of cool costumes and aliens, which is probably fair. Still looked very poor compared to yesterday's excellent Doctor Who...

This morning was spent gardening, mainly dealing with the hedges. Then off to the zoo for the afternoon. Numerous babies and signs of babies soon to come. ("Look mummy, he's getting a piggy back.") But the high point for me was definitely the Aye-Aye. One of the world's rarest primates, a lemur about the size of a cat, with the face of a mangy, anorexic teddy bear, orange eyes, Spock ears, the bushiest tail in the world, and a hand like a Swiss army knife. I've seen them before - most notably at London zoo. There you go into a dark tunnel, with a window along one side. You stand there quietly, cursing under your breathe at the idiots who come in shouting "What's in here? I don't see nuffink! Let's go see the [insert animal name]." Eventually, there's five minutes peace and quiet, and a dark shape darts around the room on the other side of the glass, feeding before the next bunch of idiots scare it off.

Edinburgh's had a pair of Aye-Ayes since about Christmas. I'm very fond of them, partly cos they're weird, partly cos they're nervous and shy and hard to see. Every time we go to the zoo I sit and stare at their dull enclosure in the corner, sometimes making out the curve of a back or tail in their nest boxes. Normally, I'm the only one to spend much time watching them. Today, there was a small group in front of their window, mainly girls aged (I guess) about eight to twelve. Surprised, I went and peered over their shoulders, and there was an Aye-Aye, in full view. One of the girls very patiently explained how the keeper had put down food and enticed the lemurs out, by banging on the nest boxes... The Aye-Aye was standing in the middle of the cage, patiently using its middle finger to pull what looked like thick porridge out of an orange skin. I called Claire over, and she took some photos. We spent about ten minutes watching the Aye-Aye. After eating, it came over to examine a log, maybe two feet from us, then climbed up to the nest box where its mate slept, then climbed into its own box, with only a few inches of tail to show it existed at all.

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5 comments so far.

Dave Viola [e] wrote :

Very cute mate, and I agree totally with the review of Episode 3. Tonight as far as I'm aware is still off. Tommy is still in hospital. I'll try and keep you guys posted.

09:38 am, 30/05/2005

Nick Brooke wrote :

Agree re: the Pagan Hierarchy, as I get to look down on almost everybody.

07:32 pm, 05/06/2005

tom wrote :

wat is dat!!!!!!

12:21 am, 17/06/2005

Graham wrote :

wat is dat

Huh?

06:58 am, 17/06/2005

lauza wrote :

the ayeaye is cute

01:47 pm, 06/08/2005