The Nose-Picking Lemur
At the Duke Lemur Center in North Carolina
an aye-aye named Kali, esurient diner,
peckishly picks her own nostrils and munches
and crunches its contents (although she’s fed lunches
and breakfasts and dinners). We humans are sinners
when eating delish nasal mucus, but monkeys?
It’s a natural trait being mucilage junkies.
Snacking on snot is no sin. It’s innate.
Her thin middle digit’s ideally designed
for deep digging in holes and in noses. Mankind
should be envious. She can reach all the way down
from her nose to her throat. She can sure go to town!
Her finger, of course, helps her locate her fare
by tapping on tree trunks. And look at what’s there!
Such succulent grubs, although not as exciting
as the stuff from her snoot. Yet her kind’s been colliding
with humans who hunt them, plus habitat loss.
Her species will cease to exist in due course.
Some natives suppose if an aye-aye should level
her skeletal finger at you like some devil,
you’re doomed. But she’s doomed if we don’t do our job
to protect her and watch her enjoy schnozzle gob.
Martin Elster
