PRELIMINARY-OBSERVATIONS ON HAND PREFERENCE FOR TAPPING, DIGIT-FEEDING AND FOOD-HOLDING IN CAPTIVE AYE-AYES (DAUBENTONIA-MADAGASCARIENSIS)

Aye-ayes possess highly adapted hands, using their specialized third d igits to investigate potential food sources by tapping and the third o r fourth digits to transfer food to the mouth. Observations were condu cted on 11 captive aye-ayes (10-wild caught; 1 captive-bred) following presentation of food or novel objects, and hand use for holding, tapp ing and digit-feeding was scored. Eight of the individuals showed sign ificant hand preferences for one or more of the 3 measures, although t here was no consistent pattern. These preliminary results are compared to those from other lemur species.