Drie enge dieren die er echt bestaan

What is a “vingerdier” in Dutch?

Counting down three genuinely scary real animals, the clip introduces one with a wonderfully plain name: «Het vingerdier is een maki die leeft in Madagascar» (“the vingerdier is a lemur that lives in Madagascar”). A vingerdier is an aye-aye, literally a “finger-animal,” named for its long, spindly middle finger.

This is Dutch animal-naming at its best: blunt, descriptive compounds. The koboldhaai (also in the clip) is a “goblin shark”; elsewhere a nijlpaard is a “Nile horse” (hippo), a wasbeer a “wash bear” (raccoon), a stinkdier a “stink animal” (skunk). Learn the parts and you can often guess the beast.