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BOHOL ISLAND GUIDE
& REFERENCES - BOHOL ISLANDS PHILIPPINES |
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The province is the home of the world's smallest monkey, the Tarsier. The size of a fist, the tarsier lives on hills of Corella, some ten kilometers from Tagbilaran. Other exotic flora and fauna can be found amongst the forest of Bohol. All year-round, the province's museums and churches attest to the province's rich heritage and culture. Philippine
Tarsier Foundation - Tagbilaran Bohol Philippines Philippine Tarsier: Tarsius syrichta Suborder : Prosimii/Haplorrhini Taxonomy 3 subspecies Distinguishing Characteristics Physical Characteristics Head and Body Length: 124 mm (118-140)
[4.9 in. (4.6-5.5)]. Tarsiers have the highest infant-weight-to-maternal-weight ratio of any primate that gives birth to a single infant. Habitat: Secondary lowland and coastal forest. Diet: Animal prey (mostly insects; lizards). Philippine tarsier in captivity will eat live shrimp and fish in a bowl of water. Life History Weaning: 60d. After copulation in captivity, vaginal plugs have been observed. The infant is born with open eyes and is carried by the female in her mouth when disturbed in captivity. The female parks her infant while foraging. Locomotion Vertical clinging and leaping. Social Structure Groups are believed to be larger than 1 male and 1 female. Group size: >2 Behavior Nocturnal and Arboreal. Philippine tarsiers use hollows close to the ground for hiding. In captivity, individuals may huddle together or intertwine their tails. No male parental care has been observed. These tarsiers have intestinal parasites and external parasites such as Trichomonas. Scent marking: Males have epigastric
gland used for scent marking. The contented call is a “soft sweet bird-like trill.” Several individuals make a “chirping locust-like communication." Females have a vocalization that signals their approaching sexual receptivity. Tarsiers share some characteristics of both the prosimians and the anthropoids, while maintaining characteristics unique to themselves. Taxonomists have classified them as intermediate between both groups and have assigned them to their own infraorder, which has just one living genus - Tarsius. Their relatives in the fossil record are found going back to the Eocene epoch, from 54 to 36 million years ago. Tarsiers are small, weighing only 113 - 142 grams (4 -5 ounces). Like many prosimians, they are nocturnal and have grooming claws and bicornuate uterus. Like anthropoids, they do not have a tapetum (a reflective layer in their eyes), and their eye sockets have postorbital closure rather than the postorbital bar of the prosimians. In tarsiers, the internal structures of the nose and ears and the blood supply to the brain and to a developing fetus are more like those of monkeys than of lorises. The monthly sexual swellings of female tarsiers are also similar to those in anthropoids. Unique among primates, tarsiers have only 2, rather than 4, incisors in their lower jaw. Their dental formula is 2.1.3.3 1.1.3.3 x 2 = 34. Tarsiers are named for their special elongated tarsal bones, which form their ankles and enable them to leap 3 meters (almost 10 feet) from tree to tree. They have a long, partly hairless tail that arcs over their back when they hop on the ground. The eyes are the tarsiers’ most
notable features. Each eye is bigger than the entire brain. tarsiers
can rotate their head almost 180 degrees in each direction, like owls.
All tarsiers hunt at night, exclusively for animal prey. Their diet
includes primarily insects
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Bohol
Tarsier - Bohol Islands Philippines