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.
Back in the wild: Lad eating an insect shortly after being released.
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.
The Star Online
Monday March 12,2012
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