A tiny animal living on several islands in the southern Philippine archipelago, it is an endemic and critically endangered primate species.
Tarsiers have lived on Earth for at least 45 million years, this is one of the oldest species animals in the Philippines. Once upon a time tarsiers were widespread in Europe, Asia and North America, but now they can only be found in remote corners of the planet. 
Dimensions
Dimensions Philippine tarsier are small, the body of an adult animal (except for the tail) is no larger than the width of a human palm, about 100 mm. Tail tarsier longer than the body. Average weight males - about 134 g, females - 117 g.
Description
The first thing that attracts attention in appearance tarsiers- disproportionately huge eyes, adapted for hunting in the night forest.
Round head tarsier can rotate more than 180 degrees in both directions, i.e. tarsier can easily look behind himself. The ears are also very mobile, almost always in motion.
U tarsier there are facial muscles on the “face”, it can change the expression of its cute little face, which makes the animal very “human”.
Fur tarsier thick and silky, grayish to dark brown in color. The long hairless tail is used for balance.
The toes on both the front and hind limbs are developed and very long. The ends of the fingers are flattened, forming pads designed for climbing tree branches. All fingers, with the exception of the second and third, have flat nails; the second and third have sharp claws, used by the animal when combing its fur. The fingers in the hand are not truly opposable, but when climbing tarsier covers the branch, extending the thumb.
The hind limbs are more developed, the ankles of the “legs” are elongated. Tarsier can jump sharply and far both in case of danger and when moving from tree to tree. The length of the jump can be several meters (and this is for such a baby)!
The dental formula is 2:1:3:3 in the upper jaw and 1:1:3:3 in the lower jaw with relatively small canines in the upper jaw.
If tarsier is very dissatisfied with something, he makes a very thin squeak. With the help of their voice, tarsiers can communicate, communicate the boundaries of their territories and call partners. Previously it was believed that tarsiers- “silent”, they use their voice much less often compared to other primates, but scientists from state university Humboldt (California, USA) made a small discovery. It turned out that when tarsier opens his mouth as if to yawn, in fact he screams, just so subtly that a person is not able to hear his squeak. The human ear perceives sounds up to 20 kHz, and tarsier“communicates” at frequencies averaging 70 kHz and is able to distinguish sounds with frequencies up to 91 kHz. Various animals are known whose voice lies in the area of ultrasound; there are primates whose screams, in addition to the sound, may contain an ultrasonic part, but among primates tarsier- the only one who communicates in pure ultrasound, inaudible to humans.
Maximum recorded life expectancy Philippine tarsier- 13.5 years (in captivity).
Habitat
It lives on several islands of the Philippines: Bohol, Leyte, Samar, Mindanao and some small islands.
Prefers rainforests with dense vegetation - trees, tall grass, bushes and bamboo shoots. It lives exclusively on the branches of trees, bushes and bamboo, descending extremely sharply to the ground.
Tarsiers- predominantly solitary animals, occasionally meeting each other at the intersections of properties. The territory of one individual covers about 6.45 hectares of forest for males and 2.45 hectares for females, density tarsiers with 16 males and 41 females per 100 hectares. Tarsier in a day it can cover up to one and a half kilometers, bypassing its territory.
Nutrition and role in the ecosystem
Tarsiers- active predators and, above all, insectivores, although they can eat small lizards, birds, etc. They are probably the only primates that feed exclusively on animal food. One per day tarsier eats insects, the total weight of which is 10% of own weight animal. That is tarsiers They play the role of “forest orderlies”; they are especially successful in dealing with locusts.
Tarsier can stun its prey with a jump. Catching an insect tarsier brings it to the mouth with one or two “hands”.
U tarsiers there are not very many natural enemies, these are, first of all, predator birds(owls). The greatest damage to populations tarsiers, in addition to habitat loss, is caused by people (hunters) and feral cats.
Reproduction
In natural conditions, pairs were often observed tarsiers, which allowed some researchers to suggest that these animals are monogamous. According to other sources, a male can alternately meet with several females.
Pregnancy tarsiers lasts quite a long time, about 6 months. The only cub is born in a well-developed state. First, it attaches itself to the mother's stomach, or she carries it by taking it by the scruff of the neck with her teeth. In a female tarsier several pairs of nipples, but when feeding the baby, only the breast pair is used. After seven weeks, he switches from milk to meat food. Less than a month after birth, the baby can jump. Tarsiers do not build nests for their young. Any participation of the male in raising and caring for the cubs is not documented. Puberty young tarsiers reach at the age of one year.
Names
Dolgopyatov so named for their disproportionately developed (“long”, i.e. long) hind limbs (“heels”). This is consistent with the Latin name of the animal - Tarsius(from tarsus - « ankle»).
First Philippine tarsier described in the early XVIII V. Catholic missionaries and named Cercopithecus luzonis minimus(i.e. "tiny Luzon monkey"). Great classifier Carl Linnaeus, apparently understood the difference tarsier from a monkey and renamed the animal to Simia syrichta(“monkey sirichta”), a little later tarsier named by common name Tarsius syrichta(“tarsier of siricht”), this name has been preserved to the present day.
By its scientific Latin name Philippine tarsier sometimes called simply sirichta.
English name tarsier simply copies Latin. In unprofessional Russian-language translations from English, the name of the animal often appears in transliteration: tarsier or tarzier.
Local residents call tarsier variously: "mawmag", "mamag", "mago", "magau", "maomag", "malmag" and "magatilok-iok".
It is curious that the native tribes, to put it mildly, do not consider the meeting with maomag especially desirable, it can bring misfortune. Tarsiers They are considered by them as pets of forest spirits and any harm accidentally or intentionally caused to the animals can bring the wrath of the powerful owners of the forest upon people.
Classification
ABOUT tarsiers One thing can be said with confidence - this is, of course, primates, i.e. they belong to the same biological order as Human, monkey And prosimians.
Dolgopyatov often called both "lemurs" and "monkeys". Which of the names is correct? Previously, scientists identified among primates prosimians(most famous representatives- just lemurs) And " real monkeys" U tarsiers there are signs of both, they are like a transitional link from prosimians to monkeys, Great Soviet Encyclopedia says about this:
“...with their lemurs [ tarsiers] brings together the presence of claws on the 2nd toe of the hind limbs and poor development cerebral hemispheres of the brain (do not cover the cerebellum), and with monkeys - a rounded skull and eye sockets, separated from the temporal cavity by a bony septum...”
Moreover, some features (the structure of teeth or intestines) are not characteristic of modern primates at all, i.e., judging by them, tarsiers older than prosimians.
For a long time, tarsiers were classified as “underdeveloped” prosimians, they were very similar in appearance and habits to some lemurs from the island Madagascar. But this classification is already outdated.
Now among primates they distinguish wet-nosed monkeys(which included almost all prosimians - lemurs And lori) And dry-nosed monkeys(which includes the actual monkey And Human). So here it is tarsiers now “promoted” and classified as more developed dry-nosed monkeys.
That is, now to the question “ lemur or monkey"We can confidently answer that tarsier lemur never been, but monkey can be conditionally called (with the caveat that in the “old” classification there remains prosimian).
Who to count tarsier- the question of the boundaries of biological systematics is an open and very complex question. It would be more correct to say that tarsiers- This tarsiers, not monkeys or lemurs (or both monkeys and prosimians at once), animals that break conventions.
But, nevertheless, we present the complete scientific classification of the Philippine tarsier in the Linnaean hierarchy:
| Rank | Name | Latin name | Note |
| view | Philippine tarsier | Tarsius syrichta | one of at least three species in the genus |
| genus | Tarsiers | Tarsius | the only genus in the family |
| family | Tarsier | Tarsiiformes | one of three families in the suborder |
| suborder | Dry-nosed monkeys | Haplorhini | |
| squad | Primates | Primates | |
| infraclass | Placental | Placentalia | |
| subclass | Viviparous mammals (true animals) | Theria | |
| Class | Mammals | Mammalia | |
| superclass | Quadrupeds | Tetrapoda | |
| group (infratype) | Ghostostomes | Gnathostomata | |
| subtype | Vertebrates | Vertebrata | |
| type | Chordata | Chordata | |
| subsection (supertype) | Deuterostomes | Deuterostomia | |
| chapter | Bilateral (Bilaterally symmetrical) | Bilateria | |
| sub-kingdom | Eumetazoans (true multicellular organisms) | Eumetazoa | |
| kingdom | Animals | Animalia | |
| superkingdom | Eukaryotes (Nuclear) | Eukaryota |
Speaking about theories of kinship and origin of species, it is impossible to ignore the 1916 hypothesis proposed by Professor Frederick Wood Jones (Frederic Wood Jones, 1879-1954), according to which man did not originate from great apes, and from the ancients tarsiers, and apes are closer to the lower apes than to humans. " Tarsial hypothesis"(from the Latin name of the animals - Tarsius) comes from the following features:
- vertical position of the body when moving along a horizontal surface (could be the basis of human upright posture)
- The body proportions of the tarsier (short arms and long legs) are close to those of humans (all great apes Long hands and short legs)
- the nature of the arrangement of hair currents (direction of hair) in tarsier and humans are similar (in monkeys they are significantly different)
- shortened facial part of the skull
- there are no bones in the penis and clitoris
- proximity of the structure of the collarbones and some muscles
- etc.
Modern scientists completely reject " tarsial theory", but do not exclude that from primitive tarsiers During the Eocene era, monkeys of the Old and New Worlds arose (independently), and among the former, man appeared. That is tarsier remains among our ancestors.
Subspecies
Researchers from Tarsier Center There are several subspecies Philippine tarsier: Tarsius syrichta syrichta on the islands of Leyte and Samar, Tarsius syrichta fraterculus in Bohol and Tarsius syrichta carbonarius in Mindanao.
Relatives
As can be seen from the classification, the closest relatives Philippine tarsier can only be found among tarsiers.
Best known tarsier ghost (eastern tarsier, Tarsius spectrum or Tarsius tarsier), this is the first tarsier, with whom European scientists met, in honor of him tarsiers, in fact, are named tarsiers. Ghost Tarsier larger than the Philippine, with even more developed hind limbs (“long”, i.e. long “heels”) and with a tail ending in a tassel. Ghost Tarsier lives on the islands Sulawesi, Big Sangihi And Pelenge.
also in separate species allocate bankansky(western) tarsier(Sumatra, Kalimantan and adjacent islands).
Within these three types tarsiers(Filipino, eastern and western) different authors can distinguish independent species. In some classifications there are up to eight species of tarsier.
Security
Tarsiers are protected by both international and local legislation; since 1986, this species has been assigned the status “ endangered».
Among other things, the purchase and sale of tarsiers. Tourists need to pay attention to this: the animals are really very cute, not shy, and they want to have tarsier as a pet is quite understandable. However, by purchasing an animal, you violate strict laws regarding punishment and endanger the life of yourself. tarsier: maintaining it at home is extremely difficult (take, for example, an uninterrupted supply of insects).
Some consolation may be Stuffed Toys, reproducing tarsiers in natural scale.
Steps are currently being taken to preserve and restore natural habitats tarsiers.
Founded in 1997 on the island of Bohol in Tagbilaran Philippine Tarsier Foundation(Philippine Tarsier Foundation Inc., www.tarsierfoundation.org). The Foundation acquired an area of 7.4 hectares in the department of Corella in the province of Bohol, where it created Tarsier Center. About a hundred are being held behind a high fence at the Center. tarsiers, feeding, breeding and demonstration of animals to visitors is carried out. Tarsiers are free to leave the territory of the Center, which some of them do at night, climbing over the fence into the neighboring forest, returning in the morning.
The question is being raised about purchasing an additional 20 hectares for expansion security zone and further restricting tourists’ access to the animals.
Where can you see the tarsier?
Meet tarsier in natural conditions it is extremely difficult: small animals are nocturnal and do not gather in flocks.
It is much easier to see them in captivity or specialized breeding centers. A visit to such a center is included in the standard excursion program with a visit to the Loboc River ( Loboc) on the island of Bohol.
Records
Philippine tarsier sometimes called the smallest primate. This is not true, the smallest primates are mouse lemurs from the island of Madagascar.
Also called the smallest monkey in the world. This statement is closer to the truth if we remember that tarsiers assigned to the suborder dry-nosed monkeys. But it remains controversial, because... tarsiers continue to count at the same time prosimians, not counting among " real monkeys" Among the “real” ones, the smallest is considered to be one of the marmosets - marmosets, whose sizes are comparable, but still slightly larger than those of tarsier.
They say that tarsier biggest eyes in relation to head and body size for all mammals. It's hard to say for sure, but this statement is very likely to be true. At least the Guinness Book of Records is sure of this.
U tarsiers the slowest growing embryos among mammals. About 6 months pass before birth, and during this time the embryo gains weight of only 23 grams (!).
Eye weight tarsier more brain weight.
Videos
Tarsiers are small animals from the order of primates.
Previously, biologists classified them as prosimians, and then began to consider these animals as representatives of the suborder of dry-nosed monkeys.
The ancestors of tarsiers are considered to be the family Omomyidae. Its representatives lived in North America and Eurasia.
Types of tarsiers and their habitats
The habitat of tarsiers is Southeast Asia. Each of the species, and at least three of them have been identified, is localized on separate islands.
(siritha) lives in Leyte, Samar, Bohol and Mandanao. The first mentions of it were made in the 18th century. Catholic missionaries called him the “tiny Luzon monkey.”
However, the naturalist Carl Linnaeus gave this animal a different name - “Siritha monkey”. The current name “Tarsier” was assigned to him later.
Local residents still call this monkey by their invented names: “mago”, “magatilok-iok”, “maomag”, etc.
The Bankan Tarsier (Tarsiusbancanus) can be found in Sumatra, Serasan, Banka and Kalimantan.
And Tarsiusspectrum, better known as the Tarsier - a ghost, settled on Greater Sangihi, Sulawesi, Salayar and Peleng.
Appearance of tarsiers
Tarsiers are small mammals from the order of primates. The body length of the tarsier is on average 12-15 cm. It has a large head, disproportionate to the body, which the animal can easily rotate 360 degrees, and round, bulging eyes.
The diameter of the eyes can reach up to 16 mm. If you imagine a person with the same proportions as a tarsier, then his eyes would be the size of an apple.
One of the most important parts of this monkey's body is the tail. It helps the animal balance and stick to the desired direction. The tarsier's tail is longer than its body.
When the animal assumes a vertical position, very often the tail begins to serve as a cane on which to lean.
The tarsier's fur does not cover its entire body. The armpits, tail and belly remain practically bare. Only at the tip of the tail there is a small brush.
Lifestyle, nutrition and reproduction of tarsiers
Tarsiers prefer to live alone or in pairs. In very rare cases, you can find a group of these animals consisting of four individuals.
Small monkeys are predominantly nocturnal, constantly staying in trees. Tarsiers are helped to move along them with ease by the pads on their paws, which act as a suction cup.
Also, these animals are simply amazing jumpers. They can jump up to 1.6 m in height and more than 1 m in length. The manner of jumping is somewhat reminiscent of the manner of frogs.
Having noticed the prey, the tarsier makes a sharp jump and overtakes it.
The majority of this little monkey's diet consists of insects and small lizards. Thanks to tarsiers, it is possible to avoid the locust invasion. After all, locusts are one of their favorite delicacies.
The greatest surge in the birth rate of these monkeys occurs in November - February. However, there is no clear connection to any particular month or period, and babies can appear all year round.
The female tarsier usually has 2-3 pairs of nipples. But she only breastfeeds her babies.
Beliefs about tarsiers
Due to their unusual appearance and eyes that glow in the dark, there are many beliefs about these small animals.
Some people believe that they are the pets of forest spirits. Some call them enchanted creatures or evil gnomes.
Niramin - May 5th, 2016
The tarsier lives in Southeast Asia, inhabiting mainly the islands of Sumatra, Sulawesi, Borneo, and the Philippines.
Since this animal is a primate, at first glance it looks like a small monkey. However, the tarsier has a number of distinctive features, among which the most amazing are the huge yellow eyes, which terrify the inhabitants of the islands at night because they glow in the dark. The animal is so small that its body dimensions range from 9 to 16 cm. But the length of the tail is almost twice the length of the body. The tarsier has large ears capable of catching the slightest sounds, as well as long, thin fingers. Depending on its habitat, the animal’s fur is gray or brown in color. Tarsier has amazing feature turn its head a full 180 degrees, and thanks to its long hind limbs and long tail, the miniature animal is able to jump several meters.
Despite their tiny size, tarsiers are considered predators. They feed only on insects and tiny vertebrates, cleverly tracking down prey at night.
Tarsiers do not adapt to living conditions in zoos and quickly die in an environment unusual for their habitat. Due to the desire of some exotic lovers to make a pet out of the tarsier, these small primates are facing extinction. Therefore, tarsiers were listed in the Red Book and taken under the protection of international environmental organizations.
Photo: Female tarsier with her calf. 
Video: Tarsier
Video: The animal is called tarsier
Video: Tarsier, doesn’t bother him, he eats
Classification
Previously, tarsiers were classified as an obsolete suborder of prosimians; today they are considered as one of the families of dry-nosed monkeys ( Haplorhini). In the Eocene and Oligocene, there was a family close to tarsiers called Omomyidae, whose representatives lived in Eurasia and North America. They are considered the ancestors of tarsiers.
Depending on your point of view, there are from three to eight species of tarsier. While five of them can be considered subspecies, the following have undisputed species status:
Spreading
Notes
Links
- Tarsiers in culture and art on the portal Philippines.RU
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
- Scarface (film)
- Glussky district of Mogilev region
See what “Tarsiers” are in other dictionaries:
tarsiers- a family of prosimians of the primate order. Body length up to 16 cm, tail up to 27.5 cm. Fingers are long, with widened pads at the ends. The eyes are large and glow in the dark. 3 species, on the islands of the Malayan arch., all in the Red Book of the International Union... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
tarsiers- ov; pl. (unit tarsier, a; m.). A family of prosimians of the primate order with long fingers and eyes that glow in the dark. * * * tarsiers are a family of prosimians of the order of primates. Body length up to 16 cm, tail up to 27.5 cm. Fingers long, with... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Tarsiers- (Tarsiidae) family of mammals of the primate order. The body length of males is 8.5-16 cm, the tail length is 13.5-27.5 cm, they weigh 80-150 g. The head is large, very mobile: it can rotate almost 360°. The ears are large, the muzzle is short, flattened,... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
And now here is such an animal.
Tarsiers (Tarsius), the only genus of prosimians in the tarsier family (Tarsidae), the exact position of tarsiers in the taxonomy has not been determined. The genus includes three modern looking. In the Paleocene and Miocene of Europe and North America, tarsiers were widely represented.
Tarsiers have been known as a separate species for a long time, but previously they were mistakenly classified as a suborder of prosimians, although in given time Based on a number of characteristics, they are classified as dry-nosed monkeys. The ancestors of tarsiers are called mammals from the family Omomyidae, which, however, did not exist for so long and became extinct in the Oligocene.
Tarsiers are small animals; the length of the head and body is 8.5-16 cm, the tail is long (13.5-27 cm), naked, with a brush of hair at the end. Body weight 95-165 g. Large round head, wide and shortened muzzle, with very large eyes (diameter up to 16 mm, that is, only ten times smaller than the animal itself, which is also found only in cuttlefish). The head can rotate 180°. Tarsiers' eyes glow in the dark. The ears are large, bare and mobile. The mouth is wide.
Modern tarsiers are preserved in Southeast Asia, on the islands of the Malay Archipelago. These are the Philippine tarsier, or sirichta (Tarsius syrichta), the bankan tarsier (Celebes tarsier, western tarsier; Tarsius bancanus) and the ghost tarsier (maquis, eastern tarsier, Sunda tarsier; Tarsius spectrum). Each species is found only on certain islands. Thus, sirichta is found in the Philippines (the islands of Mindanao, Samar, Leyte, Bohol); bank tarsier - on the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Bank, Serasan; tarsier-ghost - in Sulawesi, Salayar.
The ghost tarsier has the largest eyes relative to its body size of any mammal, yellow and glowing in the dark. Local residents consider these tarsiers to be sorcerers and are afraid of them. Ghost tarsiers live alone or in pairs and are nocturnal in tropical rain forests, usually in lowland and coastal areas, found in bamboo thickets, small trees or bleached primary forests.
Ghost tarsiers feed on insects, spiders, and lizards. They lap up water, just like lemurs. They love to hunt for crabs and fish.
Animals move in jumps up to 1 m long. They jump from branch to branch or from tree to tree, sometimes like frogs. The tail serves as a rudder during the jump. They often hunt in pairs, less often in threes or fours.
Ghost tarsiers breed regardless of the season of the year. After a six-month pregnancy, 1 cub is born, covered with fur, with open eyes. He immediately clings with all his limbs to the hair on his mother’s stomach, and can even climb branches on his own. During movement, the mother carries the cub with her mouth, like a cat carrying a kitten. Nothing is known about the lactation period and maturation of the cub. All tarsiers are listed in the International Red Book.
Tarsiers have lived on Earth for at least 45 million years, they are one of the oldest animal species in the Philippines. Once upon a time tarsiers were widespread in Europe, Asia and North America, but now they can only be found in remote corners of the planet
If tarsier is very dissatisfied with something, he makes a thin squeak. With the help of their voice, tarsiers can communicate, communicate the boundaries of their territories and call partners, but in general it is noted that tarsiers They use their voice much less often compared to other primates. Maximum recorded life expectancy Philippine tarsier— 13.5 years (in captivity).
Indigenous people Indonesia and the Philippine Islands associated the absurd appearance of the tarsier with the tricks of evil spirits. However, many of our contemporaries, who see the tarsier for the first time in its native habitat, remain amazed by its non-standard appearance.
Particularly impressionable tourists even say that the first time they see huge shining eyes looking at them without blinking, and the next moment the animal turns its head almost 360 degrees and you look straight at the back of its head, you become, to put it mildly, uneasy. By the way, local aborigines still believe that the head tarsier exists separately from the body. Well, this is all speculation, of course, but the facts are obvious!
