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First sight of newborn aye-aye caught on camera at Bristol Zoo
An aye-aye born two months ago has been sighted for the first time.
Bristol Zoo’s five-year-old Tahiry gave birth in late 2020, but has kept her baby out of sight – until now.
“I went to check on the aye-ayes and I saw these two bright, dark eyes peering at me and I knew immediately it was the new infant,” said senior mammal keeper Paige Bwye.
“It was a very special moment for me because I had also been the first to see its mother, Tahiry, who was born at the zoo five years ago.”
Aye-ayes are part of the lemur family, widely known for being nocturnal and for their long, slender middle finger which is used to dig out food from trees.
Aye-ayes are a type of lemur which are endangered in their home country of Madagascar, so the addition to the Bristol Zoo family is significant.
Bristol Zoological Society, which runs both Bristol Zoo and the Wild Place Project, has been working in northern Madagascar for 15 years and was recently granted funding to carry on their work protecting lemur species.
Paige Bwye was fortunate enough to capture photos of the special moment. Photo: Paige Bwye/Bristol Zoo
The new infant is predicted to weigh around 400gm and is 30cm long. “Although it can only crawl at the moment it is doing very well and Tahiry is being a brilliant mum, especially as this is her first infant,” Paige adds.
“We are one of only a few zoos in the United Kingdom to have aye-ayes and the global captive population is only around 50, so every birth is really important.”
It will be three years until the aye-aye is fully grown, by which point Bristol Zoo will have been relocated to its sister site, the Wild Place Project, announced in November 2020.
Main photo: Paige Bwye/Bristol Zoo
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