“They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts,
in that day when I make up MY JEWELS.”
(Malachi 3:17)
To my dear grandchildren,
How the Aye-Aye Got its Name
“The eyes of all wait upon Thee;
and Thou givest them their food in due season.”
(Psalm 145:15)
The
little squirrel-like animal called the aye-aye is about 15 inches long
plus a two foot long tail. It is found mainly on the island of
Madagascar, off the coast of southeast Africa, and this year (2014) it
has been listed as an endangered species. Its distinctive cry of “I-I”
caused the natives to make that its name, which we now spell “aye-aye”
in English. It is a member of the lemur family.
A
nighttime feeder, it is rarely seen because it spends most of the
daylight hours curled up in a ball-shaped nest in the hidden fork of a
large tree. Sometimes it grooms itself with its long fingers during the
day.
Its appearance is rather unusual. It has
a pale-brown smooth face and white chin, sharp red eyes and alert black
ears. The rest of its body is covered with long, silky, rust coloured
or grayish-black hair. Its head is broad at the top, but tapers to a
narrow point at its small mouth and chin. Because of its rather
spooky-looking eyes, the natives have long thought that it has an evil
sprit, and they avoid touching it. However, that is only superstition;
the aye-aye will not harm anyone.
An
interesting feature is the long narrow third finger of each front paw.
Armed with a long, sharp nail and hinged in the middle, this finger is
used for catching much of the aye-aye’s food.
Its
sensitive ears pick up the sound of an almost-silent grub or insect
inside a tree trunk. With its strong teeth it immediately chews a hole
in the wood. Then this long finger is used to pull the grub out of its
tunnel. It quickly eats the grub and reaches in again and again, until
no more grubs remain. These slender fingers are also helpful in
removing bark to expose tidbits, as well as scooping out the insides of
fallen coconuts, and they are even used as a toothpick! (Aye-ayes’
teeth never stop growing.) The aye-aye’s food is not just insects. It
also likes fruit and their juices, often dangling by its legs from the
branches to get at ripe, juicy treats, like mangos, sugar cane, lychees
and eggs from villages and plantations.
The
aye-aye is another example of the Creator’s marvellous works, some of
which are never seen by human eyes, but which, as our opening verse
tells us, are always under His watchful care, whether in the darkness of
night or light of day.
People sometimes think their activities are hidden from God, but the Bible tells us: “His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He sees all his goings” (Job 34:21). True
happiness is only found in knowing the Lord Jesus as our Saviour and
Friend and trusting in Him every day for every event of our lives.
Love you all,
Grandpa
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