First tarsier study begins at Danau

Muguntan Vanar, The Star 9 Aug 09;

KOTA KINABALU: A young male tarsier named Jamil perched on a sapling at the Danau Girang Field Centre at the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, not knowing it was becoming part of conservation history.

The tarsier, a primate species, became the first of its kind to be radio collared in efforts by scientist to carry out a detailed study of the nocturnal activities of the animal.

Tarsiers are characterised by eyes larger than their brain, teeth so sharp that they can pierce the bones of a frog or snake, and long legs like rubber bands allowing for spectacular three-metre leaps.

Unlike macaques and orang utans, however, no systematic study of these charismatic nocturnal creature has been undertaken in Malaysia for more than 20 years.

The project is aided by participants in an Oxford Brookes University field course in Primate Conservation and Ecology.

The small collar, weighing less than 3% of the tarsier’s body weight, will not hinder the animal as it goes about its rapid nocturnal forays searching for insects, lizards and other prey.

It will allow field assistant and student Ridzwan Ali and his team to track it throughout the night. Being a wholly nocturnal animal, it is almost impossible to keep track of its movement.

The centre’s director, Dr Benoit Goossens, said there was a need for better understanding of habitat needs, diet and social organisation of tarsiers that would be key to conservation policies for these unique little creatures.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Laurentius Ambu said the study on tarsiers was part of a bio-diversity assessment and monitoring in ongoing efforts to develop an adaptive management strategy for the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife San-ctuary.

Margot Marsh Biodiversity Foundation and Primate Action Fund of Conservation International, Pri-mate Conservation Inc, and Primate Society of Great Britain are supporting the research project.

Getting to know primate tarsier
Jaswinder Kaur, The New Straits Times 11 Aug 09;

KOTA KINABALU: It is only slightly bigger than an adult's palm and can hardly be seen in the wild, but scientists here are making sure that the tarsier is not left out of management plans to better protect wildlife areas in Sabah.

Researchers are studying the nocturnal primate, which has eyes bigger than its brain, at the Kinabatangan floodplain in the eastern part of the state, hoping to find out its home range, movement patterns and population genetics.

As a start, the Danau Girang Field Centre fixed a radio collar on a young male tarsier last week, to kick off a project that will take four to five years.

Centre director Dr Benoit Goossens said: "We don't know much about the tarsier as it is elusive and is only active at night. We don't know how many tarsiers there are. But it is part of the biodiversity and we need to know about it when we develop management plans."

The centre, which is a joint effort of the Sabah Wildlife Department and Cardiff University, is getting support from a number of international conservation foundations to study the tarsier.


The centre's field assistant, Ridzwan Ali, is getting help from students at the Oxford Brookes University who are doing a course in primate conservation and ecology.

Goossens said it was good to focus on the tarsier since much attention had been given to orang utans and Borneo pygmy elephants.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Laurentius Ambu said the collared tarsier was named Jalil in memory of Universiti Malaysia Sabah Primate Studies Centre head Dr Fairus Jalil, who died two weeks ago.