Another major dietary problem was that, like children, the animals weren't eating enough of what was good for them. They greatly preferred fruit, even though the fruits provided too much carbohydrate and not enough protein and key vitamins and minerals.
"Once we reformulated the diet, all the aye-ayes are doing much better, with a better coat, better reproduction and better weight gain," said Williams.
Like many of the Primate Center lemurs, however, the aye-ayes still present a major challenge in understanding their physiology, said Williams.
This need for more physiological data was dramatized with the death of Goblin last year. Goblin began to grow weak and, despite attempts at treatment, died of heart failure.
"We didn't have the time to save him," said Williams. "But even if we could have done a cardiac workup on him, we would have had no data to compare it to," said Williams. Thus, she and her colleagues are now seeking to develop a thorough base of knowledge on the animals, including EKG and ultrasound studies of their heart and chest x-rays.
"We need even the most basic information on aye-ayes, as well as our other species," she said. "We need to know what normal values are, so that we can understand when they're having problems." To aid this treatment and studies of the center's animals, Williams is seeking donation of a medical X-ray unit and an ultrasound unit for the Primate Center.
"Now, we have to transport them to an animal hospital in a van, but in an emergency situation like Goblin's we just can't do that," she said.
Emphasizes center director Glander, "The aye-aye is still an extremely
mysterious animal, with many unknowns. Even though we've been successful with
them, we're still learning." As an example, he cites the remarkably strange
breeding requirements of the aye
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Contact: Dennis Meredith
Dennis@dukenews.duke.edu
(919) 681-8054
Duke University
8-Jul-1998