01 Jul 2023

The Tiny Tarsiers of Bohol Island

As Heritage Adventurer arrived at the island of Bohol we were filled with excitement for our plans to observe the Philippines famous tiny primate the Tarsier.

These tiny, cute balls of fluff with rounded heads and enormous eyes - so large they have to swivel their entire heads up to 180 degrees either left or right in order to just look around.

Tarsiers are tiny Philippine primates, about the size of a clenched human fist, and are said to be highly susceptible to loud noises, bright lights and human contact so it was with great care and under the guidance of our local guides and rangers that we entered the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary forest hoping to glimpse a Tarsier.

Incredibly our guides located four of them - each sleeping peacefully in the rainforest secreted away in the deep shade beneath a leaf - and all little more than a couple of metres above the ground. Each Tarsier was guarded by a ranger as we quietly filed past and, as we did so, the little Tarsiers would occasionally wake up and fix us with a stare from their enormous eyes.

It was an extraordinary experience! Not only did we all see four Tarsiers today, we were each close enough to quietly photograph these absolutely delightful creatures.

It is said that Hollywood Director Steven Spielberg drew inspiration for his Gremlins film from the Tarsier, and that George Lucas' heavily eye-lidded Yoda was also inspired by these creatures, but our experience today greatly exceeded their Hollywood movies!

Image (c) by F.Wardle