Tarsier - the smallest and oldest (already existed 45 million years ago) primate in the world. You know how some people are not photogenic - the tarsier is exactly so. It looked to me a very ugly creature, a cross between ET and a gremlin, with its yellow-glassed eyes when I first saw its picture. But I was still intent on seeing it in Bohol, the only place in the Philippines where the tarsiers inhabitat, because it's an endangered species and because it's sooooo tiny.
When I saw it, it looked so much cuter in person (monkey??). It's so small that I gave a little jump when the boy, one of the caretakers, plucked it out from a small tree and placed it on a bar in front of me! I wasn't sure I wanted to have one on my arm when asked, but I plucked up the courage to bear the feel of its long and rather creepy looking fingers on my arm. Surprisingly, the fingers were really light and they felt like an insect resting on me. When I stroked it, I was again surprised that its fur was really soft - my hand running smoothly over it.
Due to my excitement over seeing the teeny-tinny monkeys, I failed to realise only much later that the place I was at wasn't the place I'd intended to visit - the Tarsier Visitors Centre. It was one of the tourist operated places near the Loboc River, that I was advised not to visit in The Lonely Planet, as the tarsiers being shy, nocturnal creatures, are disturbed and frightened by thrilled visitors like me, who want to pet and hold them and take their pictures.
I'd thought that the tour we booked with our hotel would include a trip to the official centre, so I didn't sense anything amiss and was totally preoccupied with the little things hiding in the trees around me. After I realised that I'm also one of the bad visitors that causes the tarsier's lifespan to be shortened by 5-6 years, I was plagued by a sense of guilt, but the damage was already done. When I asked my driver why didn't he bring us to the centre, he replied that it was too far and being a sanctuary, it'd be hard to spot the tarsiers, so there'd be no chance of a close-up shot of them, let alone touching them . I guess unless you go by yourself, no tour operators or drivers would want to bring you there, as it's convenient for them to bring you to see the tarsiers near the Loboc River before taking you to the river for the cruise.
to the tarsiers that i'd unintentionally disturbed or scared: ごめんね、、
3 comments:
Oh they are sooo cute!!! Well.... i'm not sure if you will actually shorten their livespan. I think mishandling would but if you had been gentle,and no major sudden movement, it should be fine.
I rem when i went to queensland and hug my koala the first time, it was like carrying a baby and a very heavy one. It was supervised of course and we were as gentle as possible and the koala seemed ok. that experience, taught me how precious wild life is and to appreciate them more, overcoming our preconceived notion of them... i'm sure you gain much from holding them didnt you and wanting to protect them more, which u prob wont feel compare to looking at them from afar?
Which is why i feel passionate about whales killing after having comming close to them and know how gentle they are....
ooopps. rambling again... my bad. looking fwd to more updates of ur trip!
Hey, maybe not, haa, but that was what our driver told us - the tarsiers kept in such places live 5-6 years shorter than its wild compatriots because of the frequent contact with humans.
Yeah, I was gentle to it, but the boys taking care of them were a little rough as they would taunt it to get it to jump, pluck it off the trees and disturb its sleep, and tried to force feed (though not cruelly) it just for us to see, even though the tarsier wasn't hungry.
So my visit there would actually encourage such not-so-kind behaviour. But yeah, in a way, I was also glad that I went, otherwise I wouldn't have had such close contact with them.
Yeah, I hate it when people hurt whales too! I'd love to swim with whales (& dolphins)! Where did u do it?
I did whale swimming in Tonga. Let me dig up the link and send you later. I think if u want dolphins, you have better luck in australia i think...
The group i went were very very conscious and professional about it, meaning they wont force us on the whales if they think the whales shows signs of wanting to be alone. They are strict about how we go about and always forbid us touching or coming too close to the whales (so we still have to keep a respectable distance) but near enough to see everything since they are huge!
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