What has the tail of a rat, legs of a frog, sticky fingers of a gecko, rotating head of an owl, ears of a bat and the face of the baby?
The Philippine Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta)
A 45 million year old species and sometimes called the world's smallest monkey . Being a primate, it is part of the group of mammals that includes lemurs, monkeys, gorillas and man. Scientists say the tarsier falls somewhere between the lemurs and monkeys on the evolutionary scale.
Tarsiers are about 9-16 cm (3.5-6 inches) long, excluding the tail, which is about twice that length. Their relatives in the fossil record are found going back to the Eocene epoch, from 54 to 36 million years ago.
This is a grab from my old treklens website. I took this shot when i visited the sanctuary in the island paradise of Bohol way back in 2005. A couple of weeks back, a certain author from USA wrote to me asking for publication rights for this photo, which of course is ok with me. I feel lucky having the shot at the right place and at the right moment.
I strongly advocate for the conservation of this species.
The Philippine Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta)
A 45 million year old species and sometimes called the world's smallest monkey . Being a primate, it is part of the group of mammals that includes lemurs, monkeys, gorillas and man. Scientists say the tarsier falls somewhere between the lemurs and monkeys on the evolutionary scale.
Tarsiers are about 9-16 cm (3.5-6 inches) long, excluding the tail, which is about twice that length. Their relatives in the fossil record are found going back to the Eocene epoch, from 54 to 36 million years ago.
This is a grab from my old treklens website. I took this shot when i visited the sanctuary in the island paradise of Bohol way back in 2005. A couple of weeks back, a certain author from USA wrote to me asking for publication rights for this photo, which of course is ok with me. I feel lucky having the shot at the right place and at the right moment.
I strongly advocate for the conservation of this species.
