tarsiers

The tarsiers are the smallest primate in the world and are found only on the islands of the southern Phillipines, Bohol and Mindano. Because, like many animals, their habitat has been encrouched on severly by humans, they are facing extinction. Their chief enemy is the plauge of house cats that have become feral on the islands, the cuts hunt and eat the primates. Their other chief enemy is, of course, human beings. Not only do hmans destroy their habitat they also capture the animals and exhibit them at tourist traps where they are kept in cages and handeled by the general public. This constant handling has been proven to reduce the animals life expectancy.
No one knows for sure how many of the tarsiers live in the wild but the number is decreasing almost daily. I took these pictures at the only governmnent lisenced centre on the island. Here the animals live, not in cages, but in a big fenced enclousre where they are safe from predaters.
A little side note supposdly Steven Spielberg saw a tarsier on a trip to Bohol and it became the model for E.T.