Re: I'm looking for the name of a clawless nocturnal animal.

Dear Carolyn,

Wow, interesting question!  I'm intrigued, but I don't think I have an 
answer for you.  It would really help if you could tell me the country, 
because then I could target a literature search to nocturnal animals in 
that region.  However, I racked my brain for clawless nocturnal animals in 
general, and came up with moths, earth worms, moray eels, certain snakes 
(all clawless, but not likely to be trail names, I'm guessing), and then 
all the more unusual nocturnal but unfortunately clawed critters like 
opossums, possums (they're different-- "possums" are Australian), 
bandicoots, pademelons, lots of bats, an array of birds, capybara, 
raccoons, honey badgers or ratels, etc.  

My best guess without knowing the part of the world you're thinking of is 
the douroucouli -- a.k.a. night or owl monkey (Aotus spp.) This little 
marvel is found from Panama south through much of South America, and has 
fingers and nails, but no claws.  More importantly, its name is hard to 
remember, but sounds terrific for a trail name. 

Here's an image for you:
A bit spooky looking, perhaps, but I love these beasties.   http://www.jrcnet.co
m/DuMond/TheMonkeys/owl.htm

The other thought I had was some sort of lemur or other prosimian, like the 
aye-aye.  Aye-ayes have a funky extra-long finger which is often described 
as a claw, but it's really a finger that is longer and skinnier than the 
rest of the animal's digits.  It's flexible and curved, so it's easy to see 
why aye-ayes are often noted for their "claws", but to me, fingers are 
different from claws.  There are pictures at the following sites, in case 
they help trigger your memory:
 http://www.duke.edu/web/primate/ http://www.pbs.org
/wgbh/nova/kalahari/ayeaye.html

Let me know if you have more information about the location of the trail-- 
I might be able to search more carefully with that clue.  

Thanks,

Ruth