Rare Baby Aye-Aye Weighs In at San Diego Zoo: Video
The one-month-old female takes a trip to the scale so zoo handlers can monitor her size.
What better way is there to ease into the weekend than to take in some animal cuteness with your lunch? In that spirit, have a look at Fady (FAW DEE), a month-old female aye-aye and current resident of the San Diego Zoo.
The video below shows Fady being gently scooped out of her nest box by zoo staff (who distracted Fady's mom with some treats -- just long enough to briefly gather up the newbie with the repeating name). From there, she's off for a weigh-in, a key indicator of her present health and something baby Fady will have to endure many more times.
Aye-ayes are lemurs, native to Madagascar. They grow to about three feet long as adults, with tails as long as their bodies. They spend the bulk of their lives in trees, high in their canopies, and use their fingers to extract insects from the bark. They also eat seeds and fruits.
The cute critters are considered endangered, due to poaching, habitat loss, and death at the hands of farmers trying to safeguard their crops. Not helping matters is that the animal is thought by local populations to be evil.
For the record, Fady weighed 3.6 ounces at birth and weighed in at 9.03 ounces during this weigh-in. Eat up, Fady!
Baby Fady goes in for a check-up.
Each year the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) performs an animal weigh in at London Zoo. The height and mass of every animal, of which there are over 19,000, is recorded and submitted to the Zoological Information Management System. Here we take a look at some of the more notable weigh-ins. Above, Kumbuka, a Silverback Western Lowland Gorilla, came in at 7 feet.
An African Land snail tops the scale at just shy of 17 ounces (480 grams).
Zoo keepers measure a 6-foot llama, who mugs for the camera.
Zookeeper Nathan Coles weighs and measures an Eagle Owl named Max, who weighs just over 4 pounds (1.9 kilograms).
A Red Ruffed Lemur shows interest in the scales. Keepers at the world's oldest scientific zoo spend hours each year dutifully noting down the vital statistics of the creatures in their care.
A 7-week-old Philippine crocodile doesn't seem to mind taking its turn at the annual weigh in.
A mossy frog, weighing just shy of 1 1/2 ounces (37.1 grams), lays on a scale during the annual event.