FEEDING SITES FOR EXTRACTIVE FORAGING BY THE AYE-AYE, DAUBENTONIA-MADAGASCARIENSIS

The aye-aye, Daubentonia madagascariensis, uses its middle digit to ta p on woody sources in search of subsurface cavities containing prey. T he acoustical properties of these cavities are thought to be important to this percussive foraging, but the contributions of cavity size, co nfiguration, and contents to efficient prey capture are not known. The purpose of this study was to characterize these cavities and their re sidents. An analysis of foraged trees at two sites in Madagascar revea led that many of the foraged cavities are mines bored by large ceramby cid beetle larvae. Apparently cerambycids, as well as inquiline reside nts of their mines, are major targets of aye-aye foraging behavior. Th e larvae bore extended mines that course approximately parallel to the long axes of the trees in which they reside. The orientation and larg e size of the mines offer an acoustical trail that the aye-aye may fol low to its prey. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.