Brian Froud (and a little silliness)

I started laughing after I followed a link on WSJ's art critic Terry Teachout's blog for "weird animals." I found this little bizarre Aye Aye, a tiny mammal that climbs trees, taps the bark listening for grubs, and digs them out with his long middle finger. I couldn't get over how much he looked like any one of half a dozen Brian Froud creatures (minus the hat).

Speaking of Brian Froud, stop by The World of Froud website to have a peek at The Secret Sketchbooks of Brian Froud, where I found the little guy above. Also, don't miss Brian Froud's World of Faerie, a new collection of Brian's remarkable work, in sumptuous color. This book is destined to be one of those classics like the original Faeries with Alan Lee. (For those of you with deep pockets, there is an expensive limited edition available as well.)

Comments

[Connie]

So you've never heard of an Aye Aye, Midori? They're my favorite! I'm convinced that whoever made the original Nosferatu had seen one. Sadly, they're extremely endangered as, not only do they only live on Madagascar, but the natives believe that they are the soul's dead people come to life and so don't like having them around. Poor little Aye Ayes.
Connie

[Jason Erik Lundberg]

From Swift as a Shadow by Rosamond Purcell:

"The aye-aye of Madagascar is so unusual-looking that Europeans initially thought it was a squirrel, and it was not classified as a primate until about 1800. This solitary, nocturnal creature is the size of a house cat and has a bushy tail and huge orange owl-like eyes. It listens for grubs beneath the bark of trees, then tears into the bark with its chisel-shaped front teeth and uses its elongated, skeletal middle finger to extract the larvae. It also uses this twiglike middle finger to scoop out the juice and meat of coconuts and other fruit. Habitat destruction continues to threaten the scattered population, and in some areas villagers believe the aye-aye is a harbinger of disaster and kill it on sight. It is said that if an aye-aye points its long, bony middle finger at someone, that person will die a swift, unpleasant death."