tarsier

[Baliw-katok]

De malmag of tarsius syrichta : dit schuchtere spookdiertje of tarsier is het kleinste aapje ter wereld en wordt niet groter dan de gebalde vuist van een volwassen mens.  Kenmerkend zijn de grote ogen, zijn lange staart (20 cm of anderhalve keer zijn lichaamslengte) en zijn grote handen.  Het aapje kan tot 3 meter ver springen en eet tijdens zijn nachtelijke jacht zo'n 7 à 8 insecten.  De mannetje maken zich wel eens schuldig aan kindermoord opdat de vrouwtjes terug bronstig zouden staan.  Een des te pijnlijker zaak voor de met uitsterven bedreigde soort, aangezien het vrouwtje slechts 1 jong draagt.  Het zowat 130 gram wegend aapje komt alleen voor op de eilanden Samar, Leyte, Mindanao en Bohol.

[Mawibata]

Nee, men gaat dit beestje niet slaan, het is om de grootte aan te tonen, dat men er een hand heeft achtergehouden. 


  Wikipedia

http://www.youtube.com/v/LiP4VWTwOt4

Mawibata

[xav]

dit beestje wil ik wel es van dicht bij zien... ziet er echt uit als een knuffel 

[Luc]

Eergisteren de Tarsiers gezien in Bohol.

Alvast een paar zaken geleerd :

1. Een Tarsier is geen aap maar een primaat.

"The world's smallest monkey" is an often heard slogan. However, it is not a monkey.

http://www.bohol.ph/article15.html

2. Bezoek niet de Tarsier in gevangenschap zoals in Loboc. Tarsiers kunnen niet overleven in gevangenschap. De enige juiste plaats om Tarsiers te bezoeken is in het "Tarsier Sanctuary" in Corella. Dat is vlakbij Tagbiliran.

[ganda]

2.  Tarsiers kunnen niet overleven in gevangenschap. De enige juiste plaats om Tarsiers te bezoeken is in het "Tarsier Sanctuary" in Corella. Dat is vlakbij Tagbiliran.

Oep's Luc,

Ik weet ene Tarsier J.P. zitten in De Nieuwe Wandeling te Gent, hij zit daar al 15 jaar. Volgens mij is dat ook ne primaat en toch blijft die leven in gevangenschap.

[opinie]

Dit vond ik op wikipedia in het Nederlands:
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebesspookdier De Engelse versie is uitgebreider.

De naam verwijst naar Sulawesi.
Als primaat maakt deel uit van dezelfde orde als de apen, mensapen en mensen.

In het Engels heb je ook een verschil in benaming:

Ape is geen aap maar een mensaap zoals chimpansee, gorilla, bonobo en oerang utan

Monkey is wat wij aap noemen zoals bvb. bavianen

[Kano]

Saving tarsiers from extinction


Sunstar  February 24, 2010
By Henrylito D. Tacio



"A LARGE-eyed insect-eating monkey which, when fully grown, is smaller than a child's fist." That was how my high school biology textbook described Philippine tarsier, known as maomag among Boholanos or mago as those from Mindanao call it.

Philippine tarsier is endemic to the country. It is found in the southeastern part of the archipelago, particularly the islands of Bohol, Samar, and Leyte. Its geographic range also includes Maripipi Island, Siargao Island, Basilan Island, and Dinagat Island.

The first time I saw a tarsier was when I visited Bohol a couple of years ago. I thought the endangered species was found only in Bohol but I was wrong. When I visited Lake Sebu in South Cotabato, the natives there told me that tarsiers also abound in the town, particularly in forested areas.

When I went to Maitum, Sarangani, I was also surprised to know that tarsiers also inhabit the municipality, particularly in the remaining forest of Nanema watershed, where they have been part of the native's agricultural practices. It has been said the tarsier gives them a signal whether to start planting or not. If the eyes are wide and bright, harvest will be abundant. If they are quite narrowed and smoky, the crops will be infested.

One belief passed down from ancient times among the natives is that tarsiers are pet belonging to spirits dwelling in giant fig trees, known as balete. If someone harms a tarsier they need to apologize to the spirits of the forest, or it's thought they will encounter sickness or hardship in life.

Known in the science world as Tarsius syrichta, tarsier derived its name from its elongated tarsus or ankle bone. It is a tiny animal, measuring about 85 to 160 millimeters in height, which makes it difficult to spot. The mass for males is between 80 and 160 grams, usually lighter for females.

"The world's smallest monkey" is an often-heard slogan. Actually, tarsier is not a monkey. In truth, its classification is somewhat problematic. Some scientists consider tarsiers to be a taxonomic suborder among the primates. But because they are closely related to lemurs, lorises, and bushbabies, tarsiers are classified by others with the prosimians to which these animals belong.

Philippine tarsiers usually have gray fur and a nearly hairless tail. Apart from its huge eyes (disproportionate to its head and body) and elongated "toes" with adhesive discs at the tips, the tarsier's other distinguishing characteristic is its ability to spot prey as well as to navigate its way through the trees.

Before it leaps from one branch to another, it will quickly turn its head to spot exactly where it will go and then make a speedy jump — backward — in that direction.

The Philippine tarsier's ears resemble those of a bat while its facial features resemble a monkey's. A tarsier locates its prey visually but also uses its heightened sense of hearing and sensitive sense of smell.

They live exclusively on animal prey. Their diet includes primarily insects such as cockroaches and crickets, but may occasionally be extended with reptiles, birds, and bats. In captivity, it eats shrimp and fish in a bowl of water.

Like all species of tarsiers, the Philippine tarsier is nocturnal in habit. "It stays at the edges and right inside dense vegetation of different types, including inside patches of dipterocarp forests and secondary forests, preferably among dense bushes and low undergrowths," the environmental group Haribon Foundation reports.

"Occasionally, tarsier stays even inside dense bushes that grow at the edges of cogonal grasslands in areas which have been cleared and abandoned to grass," the Haribon adds. It also inhabits coastal forests.

In the 1960s, Philippine tarsiers used to abound, particularly in Bohol. There were so many that many tarsiers were run over by passing cars. People recalled that masses of tarsiers used to cross the roads at night, doing their slow hop-crawl on the ground.

Today, such is not the case anymore. They are on the verge of extinction. The dwindling of Philippine forests has posed a grave and significant threat to the survival of these animals because this results in the destruction of their natural habitat. Indiscriminate and illegal logging, cutting of trees for firewood, kaingin (slash-and-burn farming) and urbanization patterns have encroached on the habitats of the tarsier.

The unabated hunting of the species by humans for house pets or for trade has contributed to its decline as well. Hunting tarsiers to sell as pets was a thriving industry until recently. Because of its adorable and benign appearance, many have been lured to keep the Philippine tarsier as pets. This demand fuels the capture and illegal trade of the animal further diminishing its remaining number

"They (Philippine tarsiers) fell prey only to their natural enemies, such as civets and snakes. But habitat destruction, unabated hunting and illegal trade have reduced their population to near extinction," said the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, Incorporate (PTFI), a non-government organization spearheading a campaign to save the tarsiers.

On September 13, 1991, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources listed the Philippine tarsier as an endangered species, which means their populations are in danger of extinction and whose survival is unlikely if the causal factors continue operating. As such, the sale and trade of the species is strictly prohibited.

Fossilized records of the forebears of the Philippine tarsier date back to the Eocene period some 45 million years ago. The animal was only introduced to western biologists in the 18th century. And they may disappear from this part of the world soon.

"If no action is taken now, the Philippines tarsier can soon be added to the list of extinct species," the PTFI said in a statement.

The PTFI has built a sanctuary just 14 kilometers away from Tagbilaran City, the capital of Bohol. It is a forested area of 134 hectares between the municipalities of Corella and Sikatuna.

"Please avoid visiting the tarsiers kept in cages along Loboc River," the PTFI urged when visiting Bohol. "These shy animals have a miserable live, and normally don't survive for long."

[Kano]

Er zijn ook tarsiers in Biliran

Photo of a tarsier found in Caucab, Almeria. Photo by Tyruss Saberon





Photo by Tyruss Saberon

[callebaut]

Er zitten zelfs Tarsiers in gevangenshap at Crocolandia Biasong hier te Cebu ( 20 minuten rijden zuidwaarts van Cebu City )..... men kan ze daar dagelijks bezoeken ... grootste atractie is op zondagmiddag , dan wordt Lapu - Lapu  , een krokodil van 54 jaar gevoed met kippen , men zegt dat hij de grootste krokodil is op de fillipijnen , maar te Davao zegt men dan weer dat zij de zwaarste  hebben   ..... 

[Kano]

Tourism threatens Philippine tarsier

Manila Times  December 13, 2011


A tarsier clings to a vine in a Philippine forest.


BOHOL: The tiny creature turns its head slowly through 180 degrees and stares, boggle-eyed as another group of noisy tourists takes its picture from just inches away.

This is the Philippine tarsier, one of the smallest primates in the world.

It is a remarkable animal, just 10 centimeters (four inches) tall, weighing 120 grams (four ounces), with a rat-like tail, bat-like ears and giant eyeballs, each one as big as its brain.

Its strange appearance is obvious, but what these tourists may not realize is that their very presence is putting the animal at risk.

The tarsier is nocturnal, lives in the forest and is highly sensitive to daylight, noise and human contact.

According to conservationists, if it becomes stressed it will kill itself by bashing its head against a tree or the bars of its cage.

"People go near and they're loud, or make a picture with the flash, or they're touching them. Most of those tarsiers, when they become stressed they commit suicide," said Carlito Pizarras, known as The Tarsier Man.

"They don't breathe and slowly die. If you put them in a cage they want to go out. That's why they bump their heads on the cage, and it will crack because the cranium is so thin."

Pizarras is the field manager at the Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary in Corella on the island province of Bohol, one of the country's most popular tourist destinations.

Unlike other tarsier attractions on the island, visitors at the sanctuary are allowed to look, but not to get too close, and definitely not to touch.

Different species of tarsier are found in the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia and populations in all these countries are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as "decreasing."

The Philippine tarsier, or tarsius syrichta, is categorized as "near threatened," while species in other countries are already "vulnerable," "endangered" and "critically endangered."

As a child, Pizarras would hunt tarsiers with his father, a taxidermist.

The stuffed creatures were bestsellers, fetching P250 ($6) at the time.

Aged 12, Pizarras decided to start keeping the animals in captivity, venturing into the forests at night to collect crickets for them to eat and learn about their habits in the wild.

He realized how sensitive they were to human contact.

By the time Pizarras reached his 20s, the tarsiers living around his village were becoming scarce.

Hunting, habitat destruction and predatory house cats were causing numbers to dwindle.

Pizarras knew he was also partly to blame, so he stopped hunting them and became a pioneer of conservation.

The tarsier became Bohol's logo, and a big tourist draw.

And the Tarsier Man, once derided for his strange behavior, became a national treasure, even presenting a pair of the animals to Britain's Prince Charles in 1997.

But Pizarras, now in his 50s, believed that not enough is being done to protect the creature.
It may be a tourist symbol, but more should be done to make it a symbol of conservation.

But the tarsiers here live in a thinly forested area, with light seeping through.

Their ultra-sensitive eyes are murky, and their movements slow and at this time of day, they should be asleep.

"Before we put them in our hands," the guide said. "But if you touch, they die. They are so very sensitive."

These ones have been "domesticated" using cages, he added, and now they are "tame."
"Try to go closer," the guide says. "They won't bite."

Pizarras argued that tarsiers in the wild are very defensive and do bite – and that these docile animals are not tame but weak.

Suffering superstar
"The tarsier is a superstar but unfortunately it's suffering because of its fame," said Joannie Mary Cabillo, the program manager at the Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary.

"The government is backing up but not that much. We have a presidential proclamation and laws to protect the tarsiers but unfortunately nobody is sanctioned," she added.

The government declared the tarsier a "specially protected" species in 1997, outlawing hunting of the animal, and effectively banning restaurants and souvenir shops from keeping them on display.

Theresa Mundita Lim, the director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said that the indications are that the tarsier population has gone up since then.

But she acknowledged that tarsier tourism is a double-edged sword, and more needs to be done to protect the animal.

"We can still do more through education and stricter enforcement," Lim said. "There has to be stricter monitoring, also for tourists. It's not just up to us. We issue the policy but the policy needs to be implemented at the field level."

The DENR's tarsier conservation program has an annual budget of P5 million.

"It's not enough. But we also rely on social mobilization," Lim said, adding that it is sometimes concerned tourists who report centers where the tarsiers are not being well treated.

People caught breaching the wildlife act can be fined or even jailed, but tarsiers are still found on the black market in Manila for sale as pets, fetching about P6,000 each.

There are only several hundred tarsiers left living in the wild in Bohol, according to the Philippine Tarsier Foundation.

Pizarras said that most of these live in the 167 hectares (413 acres) of forest around the sanctuary – elsewhere it is much harder for them to thrive.

"In the 1970s, the population was going down so I decided on my own to stop hunting tarsiers," he added.

"My father got angry with me because this was our means of livelihood.

"But I said that maybe someday my kids and my grandchildren can see them no more, and he understood."


Source: http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/opinion/editorials/13114-tourism-threatens-philippine-tarsier