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Philippine tarsier - TARSUS SYRICHTA
Endangered
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The word "Tarsier": "Tarsier" is a monkey with an elongated "tarsus," or "ankle" bone.
Description: The head is very rounded, with large slender, almost entirely hairless ears, and very large eyes. The tarsier's front legs are short, but, as the name implies, the hind legs are very long. The toes and fingers are enlarged to form flat soft discs with flattened nails, except for the second and third toes, which bear grooming claws. The thumbs and big toes are opposable. Length of head and body 6 to 7.5 in, tail an additional 9 to 10 in; weight only 3 to 5 oz.
Location: The Philippines.
Habitat: Arboreal and terrestrial. Forested areas, but also found in agricultural areas, as fields and plantation.
Behavior: This tarsier's diet consists mainly of insects, but it also hunts small fishes and crabs in fresh waters. It lives in trees, and spends the daylight hours clinging to the vertical branches of trees with its pupils contracted. If disturbed, it moves its ears in the direction of the noise, and then slowly turns its head. At night its eyes dilate and it descends to the ground to hunt for prey. On the ground it hops about like a frog, thrusting off from the ground with its long hind legs and then clinging to branches with the help of the suckerlike discs of its toes. It seizes its prey with both hands after making a lightning jump.
Reproduction: Mating is preceded by mutual grooming. One well-developed infant is born, weighing slightly less than 1 ounce.
Go to the Primates Page to learn more about the other man-like animals.
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