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~Tourist Attraction~
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The Philippine Tarsier
COMMONLY called "the world's smallest monkey" for its physical similarities to that primate, the tarsier, along with the lemur, tree shrew and loris, in fact belongs to the more primitive suborder Prosimii or prosimian. Dated at around 45 million years, or early in the Eocene period, it is one of the oldest land species in continous existence in the Philippines.
Four species of tarsier have been classified: the Bornean tarsier (Tarsius bancanus) of Borneo and Sumatra, the Spectral tarsier (Tarsius spectrum) and another dwarf species (Tarsius pumilis) of Sulawesi, and the Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta). The last is endemic to the southern Philippine islands of Bohol, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao, where it thrives mostly in secondary forests and dense patches or thickets of bush, tall grass and bamboo and is variously known to the natives as "mamag," "mago," magau" and "magatilok-iok."
The Philippine tarsier possesses various distinctive characteristics and habits that have made it an object of both scientific research and popular curiousity. On average it weighs only about 120 grams, and in height measures no more than 100 millimeters, but has a tail considerably long than its body (189 to 293 millimeters for females and 135 to 274 millimeters for males). The tail is an integral component of the animal's locomotive system, functioning as a kind of fifth limb.
Like the monkey it has a flattened face, round skull, errect posture, and a haemochrial placenta (where fetal and maternal blood are in contact via capillaries). In shape and size its ears resemble a bat's. unique to the animal, however, are its eyes, which are almost twice as large as those of humans but incapable of seeing from the corners; and its head, which can rotate up to 180 degrees, enabling it to leap backward with precision. Moreover, with the help of adhesive discs on the soles of its fore and hind limbs, the tarsier clings to branches and stems either horizontally or vertically.
A nocturnal creature, the tarsier normally sleeps during the day and wakes up at sundown. Like the tree shrew and slow loris, it has low basal rate and temperature and an insectivous diet. It feeds on crickets, beetles, termites and other insects, as well as on vertebrates like lizards, small fishes, young birds, frogs and mice crabs, ingesting them live. The tarsier locates its prey visually, aided by its heightened sense of hearing, but probably for protection keeps its eyes closed until the head of the prey is inside its mouth. Ten to 12 grams of food are thus consumed in a single day, double that amount by a pregnant female.
The tarsier has been observed to produce a strong smell during the breeding season, which begins in April or May. This is believed to be crucial for socialization and sexual communication. Estrus occurs at 24-day intervals, during which courtship and copulation take place. The female gives birth to only one young after six months, though she may sometimes act as sorrogate mother to offspring not her own. A newborn tarsier can already cling to branches; less than a month after birth the young start leaping; in two months or so it is weaned from the mother.
The Philippine tarsier is extremely shy and nervous; despite its cuddy looks and proportions, it does not like to be touched. Those taken in captivity seldom survive or reach full maturity. Fifty years of attempts t breed the specie under controlled conditions locally and abroad have thus far met with very little success. Yet unenlightened foreign tourists and collectors have persisted in smuggling them home as pets.
On Bohol in the Central Visayas region with which the Philippine tarsier has been most closely identified, only several hundred of the specie remain. After many years of environmental neglect and ignorance as to its importance for the island's ecosystem and the country's biodiversity, help is finally underway to protect and revive this unique living treasure.
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