London zoo shares its excitement; welcomes first baby aye-aye lemur! - Watch video

(Image for representational purposes only) Image courtesy: Wikipedia

New Delhi: London zoo is celebrating! The reason? A baby aye-aye lemur, known as one of the creepiest animals in the world, has graced the zoo!

The nocturnal creature that was thought to have faced extinction in 1933, was rediscovered in 1957. It originally belongs to Madagascar, where they are also considered bad omens.

The ZSL London zoo has welcomed the baby aye-aye just in time for Halloween. It has a strange appearance, with prominent popping eyes, big ears, and has teeth similar to rodents. It also has an unusually long middle finger for clawing bugs, insects and branches

Its food-hunting process involves something known as percussive foraging, in which it taps and gnaws holes in trees to insert its thin, long middle finger, according to the International Journal of Primatology.

As per National Geographic, these primates, even though they do not look the part, are actually relatives of apes, chimpanzees and humans. They are extremely elusive, spending their existence up in forest trees inside their closed sphere nests made of leaves and branches.

The London zoo authorities were delighted when the baby aye-aye popped out of its box for the first time since its birth on July 1.

(Video courtesy: Associated Press)