Aye-Aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)

[guppiecat]

This is the aye-aye. It is being killed by stories. People tell stories about needing wealth, so its forests are stolen and sold, making it ever poorer. People tell stories where humans rule animals, and so they do. People tell stories it being a harbinger of death, so it is brought death.

I first learned of the aye-aye from Douglas Adams. He is famous today for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He will be famous forever for Last Chance to See. Odds are you’ve missed the best book he ever wrote. This is the book that, more than anything else, is responsible for all my photos.

Decades ago, Douglas Adams accompanied a Mark Carwardine, a naturalist, to document his effort to see an aye-aye. Nearly extinct at the time, Mark wanted to see one before they were gone. The story was funny, written in typical Adams’ style. The end of the story, though, that was different. There, Douglas Adams wrote how it felt to look, with human eyes, at a species that humans were driving out of existence entirely. In that moment, his life changed.

That article, in turn, changed the world. It prompted a year long trip to see a kakapo, a Yangtze river dolphin, an Amazonian manatee, and many others. It created a radio show and a book and, later, a TV show and another book. The awareness raised enough money that both the kakapos and the aye-ayes are now doing better than they were in 1989, something seldom seen.

Today, unlike in 1989, you can see aye-ayes in at least three different zoos in the united states. You can see them in all their hideous beauty. You can see them moving as near invisible shapes in the dark or, if you’re lucky, under a spot light. You can see them tapping away with their fearsome finger, which brings death to grubs and, in story, to humans. Sometimes, you see a patient child catch the glimpse of movement and, in letting their eyes adjust, see something that they never think could exist in our world. If you watch, you may see a living myth, saved for future generations only because of a story.

This is the aye-aye. It is being saved by stories. People tell stories about what it is like to see one in the forest and in a zoo. People tell stories about other people and their eyes widening in awe as they figure out what they’re viewing. People tell stories about it being a harbinger of death, that needs our help to live.

This is my story about the aye-aye. What is yours?

Comments

I like this story. It isn't mine.

[mplsfish.livejournal.com]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHs5POy8-8Y

Re: I like this story. It isn't mine.

[guppiecat]

I keep meaning to spend an evening going through all the True Facts videos.

Youtube makes it harder to do a "play everything" than you'd think it would.

[realmjit.livejournal.com]

My story isn't about the aye-aye.

I picked up Last Chance To See back in 1990 or 91. It was in a random bin at the community college student bookstore -- that one that isn't run by the college, but is the only place to get coursebooks. I saw Adams name on the cover and snatched it up.

My first 'net persona was an Intergalactic Hitchhiker, partly because of Mr. Adams. I read LCTS thoroughly, travelling around the world through his words and suffering the indignities of international travel as he tried to buy snacks in an airport shop, only to find out they didn't accept foreign money. I have sacked out on well-placed, seredipitously rounded rocks. I have marvelled at the sights of rare animals, and felt the frustration of trying to spot a river dolphin.

The dolphins are gone, now.

[guppiecat]

Yeah, the dolphins are gone. :(

Have you ever listened to Douglas Adams perform that book? It's quite impressive. I can probably get you the files if you remind me in two weeks.

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

My admittedly limited aye-aye story is that when I first came to the States, I was astonished that nobody had ever heard of my favorite English-language author, Gerald Durrell, who was a naturalist and a zoo-keeper and had a clever, funny writing style, telling stories about going to amazing places and hanging out with fascinating people while working to collect animals for his zoo.

Anyway, the first book of his that I was able to procure was Aye-aye and I. Now I have a substantial Durrell collection in Russian, but still only a handful in English. I really need to fix that.

[guppiecat]

I recently hit the "F. It" point and just bought every Durrell book in hardcover from Amazon. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't expensive either. They weren't in great condition, but now that I have them, I've been working through the stack, more or less at random.

It did, however, inspire me to adjust my trip to Ireland to include about three days at his zoo in Jersey. I'm hoping for great photos there.

Also, I may get even better photos of the aye-aye there, as I paid extra to be allowed to have an "encounter" with them.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

i grew up on his books! good stuff indeed.