Mammals
Philippine Tarsier
Carlito syrichta · also called Philippine tarsiers
Clinging to a slender branch with eyes each larger than its own brain, a Philippine tarsier swivels its head nearly all the way around to track a moving insect, one of the few primates on Earth that eats nothing but live prey.
Overview
The Philippine tarsier, Carlito syrichta, is a small, entirely carnivorous primate native to rainforest and forest habitat across parts of the southern Philippines. Its enormous fixed eyes, remarkable head-rotating ability, and complete dependence on live prey make it one of the most anatomically extreme and behaviourally unusual primates found anywhere in the world.
A predator’s eyes on a primate’s face
Few animals anywhere carry eyes as disproportionately large as the Philippine tarsier’s, an adaptation so extreme that the surrounding skull had to evolve an unusually flexible neck just to let the animal look around at all.
Status
Near Threatened, having declined due to habitat loss and fragmentation across the southern Philippines, combined with pressures from tourism and capture.
Philippine Tarsier: common questions
Why does the Philippine tarsier have such enormous eyes?
This species has enormous eyes, each larger by volume than its own brain, an extreme adaptation for detecting movement and prey in near-total darkness, a level of visual sensitivity crucial for a species that hunts exclusively at night.
Why can the Philippine tarsier turn its head so far around?
This species can rotate its head nearly 180 degrees in each direction, compensating for eyes so large and fixed in their sockets that they cannot move within the skull, meaning the entire head must turn instead to scan for prey and predators.
Does the Philippine tarsier eat any plants?
No, this species is entirely carnivorous, feeding exclusively on live animal prey such as insects and occasional small vertebrates, unlike almost all other primates, which typically include fruit or other plant material as part of their diet.
Why is the Philippine tarsier difficult to keep in captivity?
This species is highly sensitive to stress, and individuals kept in captivity have been known to injure themselves or die from stress-related causes, making careful, minimal-disturbance management essential wherever the species is kept outside the wild.