A special meeting with the Tarsiers, a rare monkey species in the Philippines

Small, brown like a rat and even has the same tail, but when you talk about cuteness, this little fellow will win of all other creatures. The Tarsier is blessed with shiny big brown eyes which let him see his prey perfectly in the darkest nights. Yes, the tarsier is maybe the most special family member of the monkeys and apes! And I got the opportunity to see them in the Philippines!

Right now, I am in Bohol, one of the island of the Philippines. One of the unique species in the world is living here and I am so blessed I got the opportunity to see them. The Tarsier is an endangered species. That is the reason why they build a sanctuary for them, located here in Corella, Bohol.

With a motorbike I rented in Panglao, I drove to the sanctuary. It was a long drive which took me almost one hour. It was a sunny day, so the drive was not bad at all! Maybe it was a little bit hot outside, but the wind during the drive made it feel perfect. A good begin of the day. All the rain we had last week let me appreciate the sun more than ever. And I expect this day is even becoming better! So excited to visit this rare monkeyspecies!

I arrived after a 45 minutes drive by the tarsier sanctuary where I bought my entrance ticket. The price is just 60 peso ($1,20) which is including the guide already. They use the money to pay the caretakers and to take care for the tarsiers, so all the money is getting used well. Our guide was a beautiful Filipina who knew to tell us a lot about the tarsiers.

We started our walk into the sanctuary and soon, our guide was checking out a tree, yes, there was the first tarsier she said! I looked at the tree for a few seconds before I spotted the tarsier too, hidden on probably the darkest spot of the tree. It was smaller than expected, around 12 centimetres and our guide told me it is the largest tarsier in the sanctuary. The tarsier looked at us with his big, round eyes. This is probably the cutest animal I have ever seen in my entire life! When I say he has big eyes I mean really big! The tarsier can’t move his eyes, but they can still see everything around, since they can turn their head 180 degrees around. Our guide told us we are not allowed to use flashlight while making pictures. She explained that their eyes are very sensitive to light, since they are used to hunt in the night. Of course we did not want to bother this little fellows!

The tarsier has a rat like body with a very cute face!

I had to play a lot with the settings of my camera to get a good shot! But at the end I may be satisfied with the results I think! Making good pictures of them is a little bit difficult, since they hang out on the day on dark spots, hiding for predators. I am sure I couldn’t even spot them by myself since they are so small and to hidden in the bushes and trees!

Staring at us while hiding behind the leaves

We walked further into the sanctuary while my guide was looking for the next tree habited by another tarsier. She called us she found one and quickly, we walked to her. She pointed up and there he was! He was sitting on a branch, holding it with his hand like paws. They have long fingers on their hands and foots, like other kinds of monkeys to hold the branch while climbing in the trees.

The tarsiers paws are like hands since it is a monkey specie

They also use their claws to hunt. They jump upon their prey and catch it with their small claws before they bite it until dead with their sharp teeth. The tarsier is one of the smallest primates and the only one who is hunting for preys. They are feeding themselves with insects, scorpions, spiders and small reptiles, unlike other species of monkeys. Tarsiers are the only primates which aren’t eating plants and fruits.

I asked my guide if they stay mostly on the same spot when I saw a bamboo stick in front of a tree with a tarsier. ‘’The tarsier has one favourite tree inside their territory, so we easily can find them back.’’ she explained to me. They are living in the night, and on the day they are mostly sleeping. The caretakers have to check in the morning the hiding spots and that will stay the same for the entire day! I guess it would be very difficult if they are moving to another place every day!

The looks of this animal is very cute indeed, but inside they are not always so nice. They are very territorial as mentioned earlier and need around one hectare per tarsier. If not, they will fight for the territorial until dead! The whole sanctuary is already occupied so if they get one more, they will start fighting. This can be a problem if one gets pregnant. There is no space for the baby! They solve the problem by releasing the tarsier and his baby back in the wild!

Tarsiers are pregnant for 6 months, and just get one baby per pregnancy. The mother will take care for her baby for 6 more months before the baby has to go into the wide world. That is one of the reasons why the tarsier is an endangered species, since they can give birth just once a year. Another reason is the human. Humans remove their territories by cutting down their forests. Such a good thing that they have a protected area now!

Such an Innocent looking face

After this experience, I felt very satisfied. I learned a lot and finally I have seen the cutest, rare monkey species called the tarsier in their sanctuary, which you only can find in Bohol, Philippines!

Love,
Sha