'Cursed' Primate Weirdos Have Extra Thumbs. Scientists Didn't Know About Them Until Now.

[Judi Lynn]

By Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer 18 hours ago

There's a little extra thumb-thing on the hand of the aye-aye, a strange-looking nocturnal lemur native to Madagascar. Tucked near each wrist is a small nub of bone and cartilage that's like a miniature thumb — and until recently, scientists didn't know this pseudothumb existed.

Aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis) are considered by many to be the weirdest of all primates, with their coarse and frazzled bedhead fur, oversize ears, bulging eyes and bony, spindly fingers, one of which is exceptionally long.

But the discovery of the hidden mini-thumb makes aye-ayes even weirder: They are the only primate to have evolved an extra finger to help with grasping. The formerly unknown digit even has its own fingerprint, scientists reported in a new study.

In local Malagasy folklore, aye-ayes are seen as symbols of death and evil, capable of delivering curses and bringing bad luck, according to the Duke Lemur Center in North Carolina.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/aye-aye-second-thumb.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Extra Thumb Discovered on Aye-Aye Lemurs, Giving These Primates Six Fingers

Extra Thumb Discovered on Aye-Aye Lemurs, Giving These Primates Six Fingers
Used for gripping limbs, a “pseudo-thumb” makes the hands of these bizarre primates even creepier

By Joshua Rapp Learn
smithsonian.com
October 21, 2019 8:00AM

Aye-aye lemurs look a bit like gremlins, with pronounced, clawed middle fingers, and these primates’ hands have been fascinating scientists for years. New research shows that the little lemurs, ugly enough to rouse superstitions in their home range in Madagascar, sport an extra tiny thumb complete with fingerprints, giving these animals six fingers.

“It has the most amazing anatomy of any primate,” says Adam Hartstone-Rose, an associate professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University and the lead author of a study published today in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. “There’s nothing else on Earth like an aye-aye.”

Aye-ayes are a little bigger than your average house cat, with massive ears that look like a mix between a bat and a cow. The ears are equipped for echolocation, and aye-ayes are the largest nocturnal primates in the world, Hartstone-Rose says. They have giant incisors that never stop growing and are covered in wiry hair, and they have the largest brains of any living lemur species. Even their babies look like a version of the chupacabra—a blood sucking beast in Latin American folklore.

But despite all the aye-aye’s bizarre features, their hands are perhaps their strangest attribute. The four fingers are primary thumb are long and spindly. “It kind of looks like a cat walking on spiders,” Hartstone-Rose says.

Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/extra-thumb-discovered-aye-aye-lemurs-giving-these-primates-six-fingers-180973379/#24AXDvxUGqjuOB1D.99

[Mister Ed]

2. I was kind of obsessed with aye-ayes when I was five years old.

Most kids that age don't know about 'em, but I did because their name began with "A-y". And that put an illustration of them right near the last page of the first volume of the children's encyclopedia set that my parents intended to build.

They never did buy any more volumes after the "A" volume, whose pages I thumbed through repeatedly. I suppose my body of knowledge might still be a little lopsided as a result, and I may know a little more about things that begin with "A" than any other letter.

It'd pretty easy to see, though, how arresting a drawing of an aye-aye would have been to the eye of a small child:

&f=1&nofb=1

And, by the way, thank you, Judi Lynn, for your frequent and fascinating science posts. It sure helps an old DU'er to have something different to read during these bouts of insomnia.

[dchill]

3. The whole of Madagascar is a scientific curiosity.

The aye aye is one major factor.