The Pygmy Tarsier Re-Discovered

I was watching the news on TV the other day, barely listening to the usual negativity, when a peculiar story caught my attention. There was a picture of what looked like one of the Gremlins or a Furby on the screen. The news lady announced the discovery of a living Pygmy Tarsier, a rare, tiny creature in Indonesia.

Pygmies were thought to be extinct until the late summer of 2008 when Sharon Gursky-Doyen, a professor from Texas A&M, and her crew saw the first Pygmy alive in a net since the 1920s.

In fact, they had discovered a small group of three Pygmies over a few months of observation on Mount Rore Katimbo in the Lore Lindu National Park. A fourth one was also spotted. They used nets to capture these Pygmy Tarsiers and put collars on them so they can log their behavior / movements.

"There have been dozens of expeditions looking for them-all unsuccessful. I needed to go and try to see for myself if they were really there or if they were really extinct," said Gursky-Doyen in the National Geographic news release. Note: Her research was funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Conservation Trust.

Pygmy Tarsiers are nocturnal primates that thrive in Sulawesi, Indonesia. They are very tiny, about four inches long and weigh only about two ounces. Their fur is tan in color with some grey to brownish red. Their eyes are quite large compared to its small frame. The Pygmy Tarsier also has the ability to turn its head 180 degrees.

These small primates were in good numbers until the 1970s when logging almost wiped out them and their habitat.

"The Indonesian government needs to figure out a compromise between people and animals living in Lore Lindu," Sharon hopes.

Sources:

"Extinct Primate Found in Indonesia", National Geographic, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081117-tarsier-photo-missions.html

"Pygmy Tarsier", Wikipedia