Indonesian Pygmy Tarsier rediscovered

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27786771/?GT1=43001

 

A pygmy tarsier, captured this summer on Indonesia's Mount Rorekatimbo, hardly

makes a handful. Some scientists had thought the species was extinct.

 

By Alan Boyle

Science editor

msnbc.com

updated 2:01 p.m. ET Nov. 18, 2008

 

*Alan Boyle*

Science editor

------------------------------

A primate species that looks like a living, breathing version of the Furby

electronic toy has been found alive in the forested highlands of an

Indonesian island for the first time in more than 70 years, scientists

announced Tuesday.

 

Three specimens of the pygmy tarsier, a nocturnal creature about the size of

a small mouse, were trapped and tracked this summer on Mount Rorekatimbo in

Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi, Texas A & M University reported.

 

Texas A & M anthropologist Sharon Gursky-Doyen, leader of the expedition, said

the tarsiers were found on mountainsides above 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) in

elevation, amid damp, dangerous terrain. " I actually broke my fibula walking

around there, " she told msnbc.com.

 

Pygmy tarsiers rank among the rarest of the many tarsier species in Asia and

the Pacific — and in fact some primatologists had written them off as

extinct.

 

They have the distinctive, big-eyed look often associated with Furbys,

gremlin-like talking toys that were popular in the late 1990s. Compared with

the robotic Furbys, however, the real animals' dimensions are seriously

downsized: They typically measure less than 4 inches (105 mm) from head to

tail, with most of that length being tail. They weigh less than 2 ounces.

And unlike Furbys, they hardly ever vocalize.

 

Before this year, only three specimens had ever been collected, according to

the IUCN Red List of Threatened

Species<http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/21490>.

Two were found in 1916 and 1930. The third was a dead pygmy tarsier that

Indonesian scientists found in a rat trap on Mount Rorekatimbo in 2000. That

motivated primatologists to intensify their search for a live specimen of

the species, " but none of them were able to find it, " Gursky-Doyen said.

 

Gursky-Doyen specializes in the behavior and conservation of nonhuman

primates, and has been trapping other species of tarsiers for years. " I truly

believe that the difference is my skill in trapping, " she said.

 

She and her colleagues deployed about 276 mist nets on the mountain's

forested slopes to capture the three pygmy tarsiers. They then attached

radio collars to the animals' necks and monitored their activity for weeks.

Gursky-Doyen said she and one of her graduate students, Nanda Grow, are

drafting a research paper based on their observations.

 

There are plenty of questions to be answered: For example, unlike nearly all

other primate species, pygmy tarsiers have claws instead of nails on their

fingers. Other clawed primates, such as marmosets and tamarins, are thought

to have adapted to grip onto trees or dig out insects for food. Why did

pygmy tarsiers follow a similar evolutionary path?

 

Unlike other tarsier species — including the species that live farther down

the mountainside — the pygmy tarsiers don't seem to call to each other or

mark their territory with a musky scent. " How are pygmy tarsiers

communicating with one another if they're not doing it through vocalizations

or scent marking? " Gursky-Doyen asked.

 

One clue came when the scientists saw a tarsier open its mouth in the wild.

" It looked like it might be vocalizing, but I couldn't hear anything, "

Gursky-Doyen said. She speculated that the creature might have been calling

in frequencies that couldn't be heard by humans, but were well-suited to cut

through the cacophony of forest rainfall.

 

Gursky-Doyen said she hoped the latest find would put added pressure on

government officials to protect habitat within the national park.

 

" At present, the national park is over 2,000 square kilometers [in area],

but there are 60 villages of people living within that park, " she explained.

She said some of those settlements are closing in on the mountain habitat

frequented by the reclusive tarsiers and other, yet-to-be-discovered

species.

 

" As the villages get closer and closer, there's going to be more

disruption, " she said.

 

Gursky-Doyen's research was funded by the National Geographic Society, the

Conservation International Primate Action Fund, Primate Conservation Inc.

and Texas A & M.

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