Upclose with the Philippine tarsiers in Bohol

Although it was still sleeping time, seven-year-old Datu Charles moved down slowly from the branches as we were approaching his territorial domain inside the Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary one rainy afternoon. Still clinging to a much larger branch, he moved his head almost 360 degrees to the right with eyes open wide, as if he was checking the faces of his unexpected visitors.

Tarsiers, like Datu Charles, are known to be solitary animals that are not comfortable with the presence of human beings or any other animals within their territories. But when Datu Charles saw his master Carlito Pizarras, a diminutive 49-year-old with dark eyes and a quick grin internationally known as the Tarsier Man, he blinked his huge eyes several times and willingly allowed us to touch his head.

Datu Charles, the tarsier named after and who made the acquaintance of the Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne, during the royalty's visit to the Philippines, is just one of the few tarsiers (an endangered prehistoric primate that looks like a cross between E.T. and a koala the size of an apple) who have found a safer home inside the sanctuary. With a huge area of more than 167 hectares, the sanctuary houses more than a hundred tarsiers and other wildlife animals.

But while the sanctuary aims to protect and preserve the endangered tarsiers, threats against the animal remain. Illegal logging and slash-and-burn farming in the different parts of the country continue to destroy the tarsier's habitat. At present, only a few Philippine tarsier can still be found in Bohol, Samar, Leyte and Mindanao and is variously known to the natives as mamag, mago, magau, maomag, malmag and magatilok-iok.

"Unless the government strongly and religiously implements the law that protects the endangered animals, the tarsiers will be gone in few years' time," said Pizarras, who is also the sanctuary's field supervisor.

Pizarras, whose fascination to the tarsiers started when he was still 12, also stressed that the government's inaction against several families in Loboc town who hold tarsiers in cages as pets and make them perform like apes, have led to the death of several tarsiers.

Indeed, ignorance and greed of human beings have led to the massive destruction of what is touted today as the smallest primate. And while the government has adopted and approved laws that would protect endangered species, like the Philippine tarsiers, implementation of the said laws remains a problem.

Before reaching the Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary in the quiet town of Corella in Bohol, I was still of the impression that tarsiers, because of their appearance and lifestyle, are monkeys. I remembered my high school zoology teacher calling the tarsier as the smallest monkey in the world. But it is not a monkey, according to researchers and scientists.

Some say it should be classed as prosimians like lemurs, lorises and bush babies, an older (or "lower") order of primates that could date back 55 million years. Other researchers think the tarsier, whose name "tarsier/tarsius" is derived from its very long anklebones, is part of a more recent (or "higher") order of primates, like monkeys and humans.

But for Pizarras, who has spent more than half of his lifetime taking care of the animal, the tarsiers are unique creations with unique characteristics and lifestyle. With grayish brown fur and a nearly naked tail, the animals rarely grow to more than half a foot long. They are nimble climbers in the trees and hop like tiny kangaroos on the ground. They can leap as far as 10 feet (about 20 times their body length) to flee predators. Their huge eyes allow them to see well at night, when they hunt for crickets, beetles, termites and other creatures.

Tarsiers are not social creatures who are always willing and eager to have photo sessions with humans. Although looking cute and cuddly, the tarsier is an extremely nervous creature, instantly upset by unwanted intrusions. They live in territories where no other tarsier can enter; else a fight could ensue leading to one's death.

Another unique characteristic of the tarsiers is its mating style, said Pizarras. During mating season, male tarsiers produce a unique sound which signifies that they are welcoming female tarsiers into their territory. Female tarsiers then troop to the male tarsier's territory and leave their urine on the branches or trees. After making his choice by sniffing the female tarsier's urine, the male tarsier then calls back the female tarsier that he wants to mate. After mating, the male tarsier then shoo the female tarsier away from his territory.

The tarsier, whose pregnancy lasts for about six months, gives birth to only one offspring each year. A newborn tarsier can already cling to branches after another six months, the baby tarsier is weaned from the mother. Tarsier fathers don't care about their offspring, Pizarras said.

Pizarras said that keeping the tarsier as a pet shortened its lifespan drastically. He said visitors to some places in Bohol who had the chance to hold and pet the tarsier and be photographed with them probably thought they were the same animals others before them have seen.

In fact, Pizarras said, handlers of those "show" tarsiers had to replace their animals so often because the frequent encounters with humans greatly stressed the primates, leading to their deaths.

The tarsiers also have suicidal tendencies when they are locked up in cages or compressed places, I was told. They bang their head into their cages until they die or they refuse to eat the food given by their owners.

SAVING THE TARSIERS

The decreasing number of tarsiers in the Philippines is very alarming. With less than 1,000 tarsiers scattered around the country, the animal, listed as endangered by the World Wildlife Foundation, may soon be extinct. The tarsiers are becoming fewer but only a few seems to care.

In the early 60's, Pizzaras said one can see tarsiers everywhere, even on streets and highways. Pizarras, who was then a teenager, could not stop his neighbors from trapping the tarsiers. It wasn’t even against the law. But when people came to the little store he ran in front of his house, he tried to bluff them by concocting wildlife protection laws before they existed.

Finally, in 1996, inspired by the hardwork and perseverance of Pizarras, a group of prominent Bohol residents joined together to help save the animal that made their island distinctive. With the support of the national government, they established the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, the protector of Bohol’s living jewels - the tarsiers.

The foundation opened its office in Bohol´s capital of Tagbilaran in September 1997 and hired Pizarras as a field officer. The group has since established a research center and a protected breeding area in the jungles of Corella, not far from Pizarras´ house. In the past few years, due in part to the foundation’s work, the tarsier has found its way into the Philippines´ national consciousness. On the same year, President Fidel V. Ramos declared the tarsier as a protected species. But while the tarsiers have found a safe home inside the sanctuary, they might soon lose the man who has been taking care of them for years due to financial woes. According to Pizarras, he might soon be forced to abandon his job as field officer of the sanctuary since he has not been receiving financial support from the government and other concerned agencies.

"The government has been inviting foreigners to visit the sanctuary but it has not supported us financially," Pizarras lamented. "They (government officials) are proud of what the sanctuary has done but they have not done their part."

Concerned government agencies also seem to close their eyes on what is taking place in Loboc town where tarsiers are considered as pets and tourist attraction, Pizarras added. The tiny animal, declared by The World Conservation Union as "vulnerable and threatened by habitat destruction and hunting," can hardly live in captivity as a pet.

“Tarsiers are often misunderstood animals. The ignorance of man has lead to the significant decrease of the tarsier's population. Without the government's and the people's support, this endangered specie will surely be gone in few years," Pizarras said before we parted ways on my way home.

While trudging the 400-meter road from the sanctuary to the main highway of Corella, images of my encounter with the smallest primate in the world conjured in my mind. Will my future kids ever see this unique creature?

Will the government sharpen its claws against those who are endangering the lives of tarsiers and other endangered animals?

Indeed, endangered animals, like tarsiers, are animal species that need our attention. They are having difficulty staying alive in their natural environments because of man's meddling ignorance. Unless we take appropriate action now to help these animals, many of them will become just mere pictures on animal books - extinct, gone forever. #