By Henrylito D. Tacio
The Philippines is known for the tarsier, but not too many know that there are actually several species of them. They have been reported in Dinagat Province for years now, but it’s only now that those found in the island have been found to be a new species.
The paper “Conservation Genetics of the Philippine Tarsier: Cryptic Genetic Variation Restructures Conservation Priorities for an Island Archipelago Primate” reported that the species is distinct from those found in Bohol-Samar-Leyte and Zamboanga-Mindanao phylogeographic clusters. That’s according to the genetic tests done by University of the Philippines (UP).
Although the taxonomic status of the Dinagat tarsier is still being finalized, Dr. Perry S. Ong said he is already hopeful that their research “would be the springboard for improved tarsier conservation efforts in the country.”
Dr. Ong, who is with the UP Diliman Institute of Biology, is the author of the paper that was published in PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal of the Public Library of Science.
According to Dr. Ong, for a wildlife-conversation strategy to be effective, it must be unique to the species due to distinctions in behavior and environment since what works for one may not work for a different species.
The 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.
“A large-eyed insect-eating monkey which, when fully grown, is smaller than a child’s fist.” That was how a high school biology textbook described the Philippine tarsier, known as “maomag” among Boholanos or “mago” among Mindanaoans.
Known in the science world as Tarsius syrichta, the tarsier derives 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, and it is usually lighter for females.
“The world’s smallest monkey” is an often-heard slogan. Actually, the 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 characteristics its ability to spot prey and its ability to navigate its way through 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 to 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,” Haribon adds. It also inhabits coastal forests.
In the 1960s, Philippine tarsiers used to abound, particularly in Bohol. There were so many that 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.
“(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, Inc. (PTFI), a non-government organization spearheading a campaign to save the tarsiers.
During the time of the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos, the Philippine tarsier was declared as “a specially protected faunal species of the Philippines.” Presidential Proclamation No. 1030 prohibits “the hunting, killing, wounding, taking away or possession of the Philippine tarsier” and activities that would destroy its habitats.
The 1966 International Union Center for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Animals classifies the Philippine tarsier under the “near-threatened category.”
The UN Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listed the Philippine tarsier under Appendix II, which means trade of the species and subspecies “is strictly regulated.”
“Both listings mean that the species is not yet threatened with extinction but may become so if appropriate conservation measures and trade regulations are not carried out,” explained Dr. Wilfredo S. Pollisco who was then the director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau when interviewed by this author.
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