We thank for support to all friend of the Philippine tarsier and wish a successful and happy new year.

Would you like to spend interesting time in an exotic country knowing that you help to protect one charismatic species? If yes, we are looking for you.

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“Do you think it is normal for two adults to hang around voluntarily in the jungle in the middle of the night and moreover when it is raining?” I am asking the darkness beside me. The darkness is silent for a while only rain can be heard. In the end the darkness gives me the answer: “Sure, it is not.” I can feel the darkness laughing and I catch myself laughing as well. “Let´s go”, commands the darkness which in the flashlight has the image of a young woman. In a raincoat and a little light on her forehead she reminds of a will-o´-the-wisp. I am following doctor Mili in the jungle to become a part of the night dwarfs´world for a few days….

You will find exclusive reportage together with photographs in September edition of magazine Koktejl. Author of the article is photographer Petr Slavík who spent some time with us in the field in April this year (in Czech language only).

We spent already several months on the locality following tarsiers every night. During this time we had opportunity to collect valuable data about their nightly movements and home-range size. We also got several recordings of their acoustic communication. At the end of April one of the radio-collared female gave birth and we had very special opportunity to study another part of their lives. We followed the baby approximately for one month and watch its first steps. Unfortunately, our happiness didn?t last for long. The feral cats, civets, snakes and birds of prey are the most common natural predators and one of them also finished short life of our baby. It is very sad news, especially when the mother can also give birth once in a year

Shortly after this event we decided to finish our radio-tracking. We recaptured the animals and remove radio-collars. The first part of the field-work is over, but the project continues!

This time we do not present news about tarsiers but something else strongly related to our work here.

One of the major parts of the Tarsius project is conservation education. In May we had great opportunity to lead Summer Science Internship Program for high school students. Thirteen students from Philippine Science High School in Cebu joined our project for twelve days. The major objectives were to teach them how to do the research in the field, educate them more about nature conservation and especially to give them more information about the unique Philippine tarsiers. During the first days we explain them all about the methodology that we used here. They learnt how to use GPS, an especially how to locate the animals using radio receiver, antenna and compass. We also showed them how to record tarsier vocalization. On the following days the students worked in pairs on data collection. One of the tasks for the students was to prepare an educational programs that can be used for elementary and high school students’ education here in the visitors centre in Corella.

I must say that the Summer Science Internship Program was very successful, the students enjoyed the stay and work here and gained much information about the necessity of nature conservation. And finally I’d like to thank to all participant.

Two weeks after the female in the enclosure gave birth (we informed you about it in previous news) we found out that our radio-collared female has a baby. Considering that we have only two radio-collared males and one female, it was very pleasant event for us. We follow the mother and baby every day, but she usually alow us to follow her only for few hours in the evening before she get lost in the trees. We focus on their communication and also progress in development that the young tarsier has done during the first month.

The work on the project keeps going well. We were recently pleased by a visit of a professional wildlife photographer Petr Slavík…

Petr spent a week on the site a tried to fully absorb all the impressions. As a wildlife photographer he travels all around the globe to animals and thus the tropical rainforest environment was natural for him. I was surprised and pleased though that right after the arrival, having a cold and being tired from two days long air travel, he jumped into browsing the forest with an antenna until 1 AM searching for the tiny tarsiers with me in a real tropical downpour. And more was to come. Within a week Petr managed to shot unique and – I dare to say – so far the best photos of the Philippine tarsier which you will soon have a chance to admire on the author’s website. I can already reveal that we successfully recorded the mother in the enclosure of whom we informed you in the previous news.

We named the baby Cipisek (after a popular child character from TV) and it was amazing to observe how he evolves during the week. We also have unique shots of a hunting tarsier. Petr Slavík significantly helped with his photographs to support the Tarsius Project and both we and the tarsiers are thankful for that. You can also read a text about mapping of the terrain on Radio Leonardo website [in Czech only]

An important event happened last Friday in the semi-captive enclosure in Corella. Shortly after our arrival I was informed that one of the females was pregnant and would give birth soon. I was waiting with baited breath for birth of this little one. The day, or maybe night, finally came. Carlito was waiting for me until I came back from the city and he informed me about the news. I took my stills and video camera and we went to see the baby. We acted very carefully, as tarsiers are very sensitive animals. Although the female in the enclosure is used to people and this is her third baby we tried to not disturb her.

Last week was full of adventure. Everything was prepared for catching of the tarsiers and installing the radio transmitters. We asked Carlito Pizzaras called the tarsier man to do this work. Every day we went together to the forest and within one week we were able to catch the animals. Read more »

First month of the fieldwork is over. Read more »