The scrawny, bug-eyed, slender-toed lemurs of Madagascar, ay-moons, have historically been demonized by humans for their unusual and not-so-attractive anatomy. Being caught on camera recently picking someone’s nose and eating the sticks certainly won’t help them much to be found sympathetic by people.
The ay-ay in question is Kali, a female living at the Duke Lemur Center in North Carolina. Kali managed to stick an entire third finger into her nose and hungrily swallowed what she had removed, according to video evidence.
A study describing nosebleeds (known scientifically as rhinotillexis) was published this week in the Journal of Zoology. The researchers also investigated the mucus eating phenomenon (scientifically, mucophagia) shown in the video.
“When I first saw this video, I was really blown away by the nose shuffling,” said Roberto Portela Miguez, senior curator for mammals at the London Museum of Natural History and one of the study’s co-authors. It’s an iconic species, so you’d think it’s been reported somewhere before.”
The team did ay-ay CT scans and found that the animal’s third finger could probably reach from the animal’s nose to the pharynx, or the back of its throat.
But researchers aren’t entirely sure why Kali slid her finger up her nose and then licked the mucus that came out. But they note that this habit can also be seen in primates, a group of animals with particularly dexterous hands. Possible nagging motivations that have been anticipated include relieving discomfort, removing small amounts of mucus, and even reducing the ability of bacteria to attach to the teeth.
This video adds month-by-month to the growing list of 12 primate species that have been observed to pick their noses. Predictably, this list includes humans as well. It also makes the moon-moons the first members of the lemur family known to pick their noses.
Like most of the fauna of Madagascar, the lunar-moon is endangered, mainly due to habitat loss. Habitat loss is the primary cause of extinction for most species, and many species are legally protected too late for their populations to be restored.
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