Feeding sites for extractive foraging by the aye-aye, Daubentonia madagascariensis

The aye-aye, Daubentonia madagascariensis, uses its middle digit to tap on woody sources in search of subsurface cavities containing prey. The acoustical properties of these cavities are thought to be important to this percussive foraging, but the contributions of cavity size, configuration, and contents to efficient prey capture are not known. The purpose of this study was to characterize these cavities and their residents. An analysis of foraged trees at two sites in Madagascar revealed that many of the foraged cavities are mines bored by large cerambycid beetle larvae. Apparently cerambycids, as well as inquiline residents of their mines, are major targets of aye-aye foraging behavior. The larvae bore extended mines that course approximately parallel to the long axes of the trees in which they reside. The orientation and large size of the mines offer an acoustical trail that the aye-aye may follow to its prey. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.