Imagine the scene. Biologist, you study the evolution of the prehensile capacity in primates related to their arboreal adaptation. Your object of the moment: a lemur of the name of Aye-Aye, especially known for the impressive size of his fingers. You are not in Madagascar, the animal’s election land, but at Duke University, in North Carolina. Americans have gone masters in the reproduction of these small primates. Suddenly, before your eyes, one of the individuals takes his middle finger in one of his nostrils, the cure ostensibly … then eats the result of his work.
What to do? Burst out laughing ? Turn your head, disgusted? Take your laptop to post a video on Instagram? Anne-Claire Fabre, biology professor at the University of Bern and curator in charge of mammals at the National Museum of Swiss Natural History, says he was first surprised. “Here, isn’t it just the men who do that?” Then, in good scientist, she suspected a nice subject of research. The result, co -signed by six researchers from five countries, was published on October 27 in the Journal of Zoology . “In the Halloween issue,” she said, smiling. Delicious article.
The researcher undertook to understand by what miracle the animal managed to drive this long adult scribbled in one of her nostrils, perform back and forth movements there, all without blowing up the sinuses. Note that the said appendix reaches 8 centimeters for a body of less than 40 centimeters (do the calculation and compare)… Renaud Boistel, from the Museum of Natural History of Paris, was responsible for reproducing the 3D anatomy of the beast and allowed to determine the improbable course. “The finger between the nose, sneaks to the pharynx and joins the bottom of the mouth, sums up Anne-Claire Fabre. In fact, the animal reproduces the movements it performs when it eats a raw egg or a Orange: he recurred, comes out his finger then the lick. We can also note that if the aye-aye also cure his ears, he never eats what he extracts. “
” many jokes “
But no good science without bibliographic study. The team therefore plunged into literature. “We noticed that in addition to the Ayes-Ayes and us the practice of citing the nose had been described in ten other species of primates,” insists the Swiss researcher. Chimpanzees, bonobos, two species of gorillas, three species of macaques, the orangutans of Sumatra and two species of nasturtiums. Not to mention the less skillful species, like the giraffes, which for lack of fingers, lick the mucus which flows from their nose … The biologist notes, however, that few researchers go beyond the anecdotal description. “It’s funny or it’s disgusting. Lots of jokes, little info,” she sums up.
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