Aye-Aye Caught on Camera Picking Its Nose and Eating It

“When I first saw this video, I was really struck by the nose picking,” said Roberto Portela Miguez, the senior curator in charge of mammals at London’s Natural History Museum and a co-author of the research, in a museum release. “It’s a surprise because aye-ayes are quite an iconic species, so you would think it would have been reported somewhere before now.”

The team conducted CT scans of the aye-aye and found that the animal’s third finger likely goes so far back into the animal’s nose that it could reach the pharynx—basically, the back of its throat.

They remain uncertain exactly why Kali would slide her finger up her nose and then lick off the mucus that came out. Though they did note the habit occurs in primates, a group of animals with particularly dexterous hands.

Possible nose-picking motivations include alleviating discomfort, getting a small amount of hydration from the mucus, or even to reduce bacteria’s ability to attach to teeth.

The unsettling video adds the aye-aye to a running list of 12 primate species that have been observed picking their noses. (Yes, humans are on that list.) It also makes the aye-aye the first member of the lemur family known to pick its nose.

Like much of Madagascar’s fauna, the aye-aye is endangered, mainly due to habitat loss. Habitat loss is the primary driver of extinction for most species, and most species are legally protected too late for their populations to recover.

The aye-aye has historically been seen with superstition, so adding a behavior conventionally seen as a nasty habit by humans to its repertoire is not a good look. But hey, at least it’s mucophagy instead of coprophagy (which you may want to avoid looking up altogether).

More: Aye-Ayes Have Been Hiding a Secret Sixth Finger This Whole Time