Saturday, September 03, 2011

The Philippine Tarsier

Making a comeback to Live Every Moment meme, but since this week's prompt is "aninals," I am also going to link this post to Camera Critters.

Philippine Tarsier

This animal is the Tarsier, probably the smallest of all primates. An adult tarsier is about the size of an adult human's fist, and it lives by eating insects and other animals (it can eat birds and bats as well). Its head can make a full 360 degree turn, and is a nocturnal animal.

On our second day in Bohol (where the Philippine tarsiers are found), we went on a city tour and although this wasn't my first time to see the tarsiers in person (I already traveled to Bohol in 2008 with my dear K), this was a completely different tarsier sanctuary and I appreciated this visit more because we went there right after eating lunch - giving me and my camera just the right amount of light I needed. Although the tarsiers are much active during night time, some of them were actually awake the time we visited. Sadly, most of them were high up the trees, so the only way for me to take pictures of them was to stretch my hand up.

Each tree with a tarsier had its own "guard," to ensure none of the visitors were touching them and the tree where they are staying. Guests were allowed to come closer if they wanted to, provided the tree and the animal weren't touched - sanctuary staff didn't want to stress the tarsiers. Guests were also asked to turn of their camera flash while taking pictures.

The tarsier is one of the Philippines' precious gems as far as animals are concerned. Outside the Philippines, tarsiers can also be found in Borneo, Sumatra, and in Sulawesi (Indonesia).