TARSIERS

Tarsiers belong to the suborder Haplorrhini, the “dry nosed” primates, along with monkeys and apes. Haplorrhines are considered to be less primitive than the strepsirrhine “wet-nosed” primates. Nonetheless, tarsiers continue to be, somewhat controversially, categorized as prosimians. The tarsier family, Tarsiidae, includes three genera, at least fourteen species, and seven subspecies.

PHILIPPINE TARSIERS

Genus: Carlito

Carlito syrichta

CONSERVATION STATUS: NEAR THREATENED

Philippine tarsiers are native to the southeastern Philippines. While tarsiers once ranged across Europe, northern Africa, Asia, and North America, they all now live in the lush islands of Southeast Asia. Twenty thousand years ago, the Philippine islands—all 7,107 of them—were linked together as larger islands because the…

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WESTERN TARSIERS

Genus: Cephalopachus

Cephalopachus bancanus

CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE

Native to Southeast Asia, the Horsfield’s tarsier is known by many names, including the western tarsier, Bornean tarsier, and tarsier de Bornéo in French. As their names suggest, the Horsfield’s tarsier can be found in Borneo, an island that is divided among Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia. They’re found along the north coast and…

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EASTERN TARSIERS

Genus: Tarsius

pygmy-tarsier-in-the-open-david-fletcher-used-with-permission2_1_orig
Photo courtesy of ©David Fletcher, @dr_fleeeeetch. Used with permission.

Tarsius pumilus

CONSERVATION STATUS: ENDANGERED

The Indonesian island of Sulawesi is home to the pygmy tarsier, also known as the mountain tarsier, the lesser spectral tarsier, or the Sulawesi Mountain Tarsier. Having eluded detection by scientists for about 80 years, pygmy tarsiers were thought to have gone extinct sometime during the early 20th century. Then…

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​Credit: Ariefrahman/Creative Commons

Tarsius tumpara

CONSERVATION STATUS: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED

The tiny volcanic island of Siau, in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province, is home to this tiny, enigmatic primate. Siau Island tarsiers are found nowhere else in the world. (Some scientists speculate that these Critically Endangered primates may also inhabit some of the smaller islands in close proximity to Siau Island…

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Tarsius tarsier

CONSERVATION STATUS: VULNERABLE

The spectral tarsier, also known as the Sulawesi tarsier and the eastern tarsier, and formerly known scientifically as Tarsius spectrum, is taxonomically distinct from the Philippine tarsier (Carlito syrichta) and is endemic to Sulawesi and other small surrounding islands in Indonesia. Sulawesi sits east of Borneo, west of the Maluku…

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