Monkey Mayhem Read Online Free PDF Page A

larvae with her long middle finger that she did not notice the intruder.
    Mr Indigo was almost close enough to grab the aye-aye, when five torchlight beams swung onto him.
    â€˜Smile for the camera,’ said Bindi, as she took a photo of Mr Indigo with his sack, ready to pounce on the creature. The local children, headed by Berriman, were chattering excitedly to one another. They had seen their first aye-aye!
    Bindi turned to her new friends. ‘The only bad thing that’s going to happen as a result of seeing this amazing animal is that Mr Indigo isgoing to jail!’ she said. ‘And for us, and for you and Madagascar, that is a very good thing!’
    Sylvie called the police and they were there within minutes. Mr Indigo was furious and refused to come down from the tree. He tried to talk his way out of the situation but the local police had long suspected he was involved in illegal trade, and would not listen to his excuses.
    â€˜I hate this ecolodge and everything to do with conservation. It’s ruining my business,’ he screeched, before falling out of the tree and landing, uncharmingly, on his bottom, right in front of the police.
    â€˜ C’est horrible! ’ he cried.

    After the excitement of Mr Indigo’s capture, Bindi and Robert found it hard to get to bed. The three Irwins sat on the end of Terri’s bed in their pyjamas, talking through their two days of action-packed adventure.
    â€˜Hopefully we’ll get a few less exciting days now, kids,’ said Terri.
    Bindi was counting the lemur species she still wanted to see. ‘Three down, thirty-six to go.’
    Robert was reading through a reptile dictionary. ‘I reckon I’ve spotted about eight different typesof lizards already. I only have,’ he made a quick calculation, ‘about two hundred and two left to find!’
    Terri yawned. ‘Well, perhaps the excitement is set to continue then,’ she said resignedly, as Bindi and Robert leaned in and gave her a big hug.

ANIMAL FACT FILE
    THE RING-TAILED LEMUR

    Ring-tailed lemurs live along the south and south-western part of Madagascar.
    They are easily recognised by their distinctive long black-and-white-ringed tails.
    Along with tarsiers and lorises, lemurs belong to a subgroup of primates called ‘prosimians’, meaning ‘pre-monkey’.
    They can be found in a variety of forests such as rainforests, gallery, deciduous and spiny bush forests.
    They are very social and live in troops, which are led by the dominant female lemur.
    Their diet consists of fruit, leaves, flowers, other plant parts, the occasional insect and small vertebrates.
    ANIMAL FACT FILE
    THE AYE-AYE
    Â© Getty Images
    The aye-aye lives in eastern Madagascar and is the largest of the nocturnal primates.
    It is equipped with a very long, very thin third finger that it is able to rotate 360 degrees, independently of the other, shorter fingers.
    The aye-aye’s strange appearance has given rise to many superstitions and beliefs among the people of Madagascar.
    When hunting at night, the lemur moves along a branch, rapidly tapping the wood with its elongated fingers while listening intently. If it detects the hollow sound of a cavity deep within the tree and hears an insect larva moving inside, it starts to gnaw at the wood until it is able to insert its third finger to extract the grub.
    During the day, aye-ayes sleep in nests made from twigs woven together and lined with shredded leaves.
    The aye-aye faces extinction, due to a combination of habitat destruction and human persecution.



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