Fady (it’s pronounced faw-dee and means taboo in Malagasy), an adorable one-month-old female aye-aye, gets a checkup from San Diego Zoo keepers while her mother, Styx, is nearby keeping a watchful eye on her.
“‘Aye-ayes are extremely rare in zoological settings; only a handful of zoos in the U.S. house these animals,’ said Mindy Settles, primate keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Fady’s birth on September 8 marks the first aye-aye baby born at the San Diego Zoo. Counting this infant, there are only 27 aye-ayes in North America. Fady was born to a first-time mother, Styx, and father, Nirina. Nirina (which means hope) is an important founder in the aye-aye Species Survival Plan program, developed through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to help ensure the survival of species that may be endangered or threatened in the wild, providing genetic diversity to the species.”
