Malaysia: Cheer over tarsier rescue

Ruben Sario The Star 12 Mar 12;

KOTA KINABALU: The recent rescue of a male tarsier from an area in Sabah's east coast has enabled wildlife researchers to conduct more detailed studies on one of the smallest primates in the world.

The tarsier was found by villagers in Sikang in the Kinabatangan district, not far from the Gomanton caves that are renowned for swiftlet nests.

It was found by the father of Sarato Payar, a field research assistant at the Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), a wildlife research NGO.

Tarsiers are a mere 10cm tall, weigh about 120gm, with a rat-like tail, bat-like ears and huge eyeballs, each as big as its brain.

“The forest had been cleared a while ago but the land was not used. When there were new plans for usage, the land was being cleared again when the tarsier was found and rescued,” Sarato said.

The little animal was taken to the field centre and given the moniker Lad (for ladang or plantation).

Cardiff University student Alice Miles, who leads a project on tarsier and slow loris ecology, put a radio collar on the animal before releasing it into the forest.

“The following night, we went back to the forest and looked for Lad using our telemetry equipment.

“He was found about 150m to 200m from where he was released, hunting on the ground,” added Miles.

DGFC director Dr Benoit Goosens said the study on endangered tarsiers was crucial in understanding the primates' habitat needs, diet and social organisation.

The research, being carried out in collaboration with the Sabah Wildlife Department, would help draw up conservation policies involving these animals, he added.

“So far, we have collared four tarsiers in the vicinity of the field centre. Two of them were females and the radio collars will enable us to identify their sleeping sites and map their home range,” said Goossens.

“We hope Lad will meet one of the two females soon,” he said, adding that the nocturnal primate project was funded by the Columbus, Cleveland and Phoenix zoos of the United States.

Rescued tarsier to provide info on home range
New Straits Times 12 Mar 12;

KINABATANGAN: A male tarsier (Tarsius syrichta), about the size of the palm of an adult, was rescued from a new oil palm plantation on Wednesday, and has since been fitted with a radio collar to identify its home range.

The nocturnal primate was found on land owned by villagers near the Gomantong area by the father of Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC) field research assistant Saroto Payar, who then brought it back to the centre.

Cardiff University student Alice Miles, who is leading a project on the ecology of tarsier and slow loris at the DGFC, said the rescued animal was kept in a cage for a day and fed with insects before it was released into the forest.

"In the evening, we fitted him with a radio-collar and released him into the wild.

"We named him Lad, short for "ladang" or plantation in Bahasa Malaysia, and which also refers to males in English.

"The following night, we went back to the forest and looked for him using our telemetry equipment.

"Lad was found about 150 to 200m from where he was released, hunting on the ground."

DGFC director Dr Benoit Goossens said understanding habitat needs, diet and social organisation of tarsiers were key to forming conservation policies for the unique creatures. Bernama