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which is aimed at some of our younger and more precocious
readers in which we plan to ask different people in the field
of primatology major “What is” questions. We expect the
results to be pretty darn exciting, and we hope that before
long kids everywhere will be clamoring for their very own
copy of the Nooz. In this issue, we begin with a question
that has puzzled mankind for centuries, and to answer it we
are fortunate to have Mr. Win Wing Wan, lately of the
Beijing Zoo.
Mr. Win Wing Wan, lately of the Beijing Zoo
The inscrutable tarsier is a small, furry, large-eyed
primate, generally muscade and/or sennet in color, weighing
on average 120g. or 4.25oz. and occupying the approximate
ecological niche of an owl. Tarsiers live only on the spicy
islands of Southeast Asia. Four species are taxonomically
recognized: Horsfield's, Philippine, spectral and sulky. Of
these, the sulky tarsier is perhaps the best known and the
least liked.
Tarsius irritatus, like the other tarsiers, is only
secondarily adapted to a nocturnal life, having many
features much more in common with the anthropoids than
with the prosimians, such as its proclivity to start small fires
to provide light for itself after sunset. Tarsiers, like
anthropoids, have relatively heavy neonates, but the infants
are more precocial.
Solitary ranging pairs of males and females are often
synterritorial, and there is a marked degree of both inter- and
intra-specific variation in the amount of social contact that
is observed. Tarsiers have large and membranous ears and a
tail the distal third of which is slightly tufted. Their eyes are
huge and practically immobile, but they can turn their heads
around 180°, thus affording them a wide range of vision.
Tarsiers derive their name from their elongated tarsal
region. This and the fusion of the tibia and fibula in the
lower third of their lengths give the tarsier tremendous
leaping ability, which it uses to good advantage in catching
the insects that make up 90% of its diet. Tarsiers have been
observed leaping 50m into a tree to grab a cockroach for
breakfast.
Tarsiers have 34 teeth, having lost two of the incisors
that are retained by the lemuriformes. Their long hands are
prehensile, with non-opposable thumbs, and their fingers
have fleshy digit pads to facilitate clinging to vertical
supports. The eye of the tarsier lacks the tapetum lucidum
of the other prosimians.
In addition to insects, tarsiers eat spiders and lizards,
and are preyed upon by owls. They are primarily arboreal
and remain in the trees most of the time. All digits have
small flake-like nails except the 2nd and 3rd digits of the feet,
which have toilet claws. Marking is accomplished by
urination, and is a nightly territorial ritual. Tarsiers rest in an
upright clinging posture with the knees tucked under the
chin and the tail used as a support.
Preferred habitat for tarsiers is primary and secondary
forest and they typically occupy the lower understory of