- Leaps quickly from tree to tree with his long legs which are twice as long as its head & body
- Has 5 long, slender fingers & toes which all have nails except the second and third toes which are used for grooming.
- Under each digit is a bulbous swelling with a rigid gripping surface that enables the tarsier to cling to supports.
- Tarsier has huge with large pupils that allow it to see better at night.
- The tarsiers eyes can hardle move in its sockets but it can move its head 180 degrees to the left or right which makes up for this.
- Tarsiers move about in the night about 3 feet off the ground. They climb higher to sleep during the day.
- They awake just before sunrise, rest for a bit, then go hunting for food.
Breeding
- Adult western tarsier usually lives with it's mate and an infant.
- The infant usually leaves to find its own territory before the next infant is born.
- A tarsier marks its territory with urine and rubbibg it's body against the barks of trees.
- The animals chase each other and mate in trees, in courtship.
- a young tarsier is born with its eyes open about six months after the adults mate. the young tarsier can climb but is totally dependent on the mother's milk.
- The young keeps contact with the mother by making clicking sounds and whistles while the mother is hunting.
- The young tarsier can eat solid food after only a week. The young tarsier can jump well enough to hunt after three months but it still drinks the mother's milk.
Food and Hunting
- Philippine and spectral tarsiers usually eat insects, including knats, mosquitoes, dragonflies, moths, termites, locusts, and grasshoppers.
- A philipphine tarsier ate a banana when fed by a researcher but they are not known for eating friuts.
- The western tarsier eats insects and also lizards, bats, and snakes. Sometimes they even kill and eat birds larger than themselves.
- A tarsier can catch a bird in flight by leaping at it and grabbing it with both hands.
- before eating the bird the tarsier kills it by biting the birds neck with its large, sharp teeth.
- Tarsiers locate their prey with their excellent hearign abilities.
- If the prey is small the tarsier jumps to the ground and grabs it with a hand. If the prey is big then the tarsier kills it before carrying it back to the tree to be eating.
- Tarsiers drinks water regularly.
- They get water from pools and streams, sometimes sitting in the shallow while drinking. They also lick rainwater from the leaves of trees.
Interesting facts
- A tarsier often makes contact by seizing its mate's tail.
- The Philippine and spectral tarsiers may sit with their tails interwined.
- Tarsiers are rarely killed by snakes even though they live in areas common with them.
- A snake detects prey by sensing body heat and tarsier's are thought to decrease their body temperature while sleeping so they would less likely be a target.
- Tarsiers sometimes catch venomous snakes.
- A tarsier may clean itself by rubbing its face against the branches of trees.
