March 2018^ DISCOVER^53LORD HOWE ISLAND STICK INSECT
Dryococelus australis
The Lord Howe Island stick insect
was believed to have become extinct
sometime around 1920 due to the
introduction of black rats. In the 1960s,
there were various reports of sightings
of large stick insects on Balls Pyramid,
a rat-free rocky outcrop 14 miles from
Lord Howe Island, which is off the
eastern coast of Australia. In 2001, a
scientific research team visited the rock
and ascertained that the Lord Howe
Island stick insect really was alive.
Melbourne Zoo is now researching
the insect’s lifestyle, behavior, biology
and diet. The ultimate goal is to rein-
troduce the stick insect to Lord Howe
Island, but the rats must be eradicated
first. Then, and only then, does this
particular critter have a chance of
returning home.
AYE-AYE
Daubentonia madagascariensis
Coded message or not, there is a perfectly reasonable
explanation for why the aye-aye has a middle finger
that is so much longer, thinner and gnarlier than any of
the others: It’s a percussive forager.
The aye-aye, a lemur from Madagascar, taps out a
little rhythm on a wooden surface to determine where
cavities are inside. Then, listening with its large disk-
shaped ears and probably using echolocation, it decides
exactly where the grubs are for grub time. It uses its
incisors to make a small hole in the surface, and then it
inserts its especially extended digit into said hole and
presto — it pulls its dinner out of the opening, thus giv-
ing the invertebrates inside it the actual finger. And this
finger is articulated by sitting on a ball-and-socket joint,
allowing it to move and swivel a full 360 degrees. So
watch out, the aye-aye can get ahold of you wherever
you are.
Dexterity aside, hunting and superstition have left
it endangered. This odd lemur is considered evil: Dead
aye-ayes are often hung upside down outside a vil-
lage to ward off evil spirits. Several ongoing captive
breeding programs have not proved successful with
second-generation creatures, and the work continues.
Solutions need to be found — otherwise, we may have
to say bye-bye to the aye-aye.