Endemic to maritime southeast Asia, the Philippines tarsier, scientifically known as Carlito syrichta and called amas by several indigenous tribes, is a haplorrhine primate that has for so long been a curiosity in Davao region’s forest fastnesses where vegetation was largely intact.
As early as 1912, American records already had accounts of tarsier encounters in several areas of Davao where scientific expeditions, mostly US-funded, were focused. In line with good conservation practices, the anthropologists gathered only a few specimens and kept them away from intruding natural habitats where these nocturnal creatures live.
After the war, two scientific explorations were launched in the region in 1947 separately led by Dr. John N. Hamlet, biologist from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and Dr. Harry Hoogstraal, ‘the greatest authority on ticks and tickborne diseases who ever lived’ who was assistant curator of insects of the Chicago Natural History Museum.
Hamlet’s team, however, is particularly interesting given that he was joined in his special zoological research by Dr. Charles Heizer Wharton, a research ecologist who was in Manila at the time writing some articles for The National Geographic Magazine.
Dr. Wharton’s interest in joining the Davao research is the tarsier, which he termed as his ‘chief quarry.’ To ensure he could securely get one live specimen, he hired catchers to scour different areas and paid them for each piece. Not too long thereafter, he obtained news from Madaum, Tagum City, of a tarsier caught in the plantation of the International Harvester Company. To reach the area, he borrowed a wobbly jeep, ferried two rivers, and rode on carabaos to reach the destination before the fragile creature had expired.
He later joined Dr. Hoogstraal’s expedition in Sarangani where a band of curious Manobos approached them, asking them what they were looking for. In his September 1948 article, he wrote: “Imagine our surprise when three natives ran up about two hours later, each bearing a tarsier in his hands. The creatures regarded the scene through their incredible yes, the pupils now reduced to tiny horizontal slits by the bright sunlight. A six-month catch in two hours.”
In appreciation, Dr. Wharton committed a blunder by offering $5 for each mammal, the equivalent of two-week plantation labor. The prospect of earning more income from catching tarsiers literally sent the Manobos to the thick forest in a frenetic search. Not long thereafter, a number of catchers returned with 20 tarsiers carried inside wire cages.
For some reason, Dr. Wharton did not stop the collection of live tarsiers which, in a matter of weeks would balloon to a hundred. The hefty population, to the ecologist’s nightmare, means finding also suitable food for the sprightly creatures. He wrote:
“Most of the tarsiers were caught by natives. Sometimes a whole family of Manobos would troop in with two or three tarsiers they had surprised while clearing the family garden. Usually, they tied the little fellows around the waist in the manner in which monkeys are often tied, or they carried them in some cleverly made container.
“Of the more than a hundred recorded captives, at least half were caught clinging in small trees near the ground, in a crotch, or when otherwise in plain view during the day.”
Excessive hunting, destruction of habitats, logging, incursions, and collecting them as pets would eventually decimate the tarsier population, making them an endangered species today.
In recent years, tarsiers were spotted in certain areas of the region. In 2013, two separate colonies were found in Barangay Bobon, Mati, Davao Oriental, and in Barangay Suaon, Kapalong, Davao del Norte. And in 2020, sightings were reported in Megkawayan, Calinan, Davao City, and Tadeco banana plantation in Davao del Norte.
