Dinagat cloud rat - by William Oliver

A Dinagat Island cloud rat, belonging to the biggest and most beautiful rodents of the world, endemic to only one tiny island of the world – Dinagat Island, Philippines, was rediscovered. This species was captured only once in the history, 37 years ago. It belongs to critically endangered species, and was even feared to be extinct until early 2012, when it was observed and video recorded by a scientific couple from Czech Republic.

Cloud rats are the biggest (body size 30-70 cm) and most spectacular murids of the world, endemic only to a few Philippine Islands. They are nocturnal arboreal animals. The Dinagat bushy-tailed cloud rat (Crateromys australis) is the least known among them. So far, it was known only from one specimen captured in 1975. Since then number of scientific expeditions have searched for this elusive species, but with no success. It changed in early 2012 when a programmer Václav Řehák accompanying his wife, zoologist Milada Řeháková on a survey of Dinagat Island tarsiers spotted a huge hairy grey-brown rat with hairy and conspicuously black-white tail searching in the canopy. William Oliver of the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, said that Řeháková had called him from the island “full of excitement and frustration” because while her husband had seen it, she had not. Finally, they both saw the cloud rat a week later. The exciting rediscovery was scientifically confirmed and this species was video documented for the first time ever.

Dinagat cloud rat - photo by Václav Řehák

This species is endemic to a small island of the Philippines, where mining and logging posses a serious threat to all wildlife, including the critically endangered Dinagat bushy-tailed cloud rat. Only one small locally protected area exists on the whole island. Therefore the scientists, including the couple who rediscovered the species, William Oliver and other experts from Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, have carefully prepared further conservation strategies. “Effective conservation activities must be undertaken to assure future survival of this, once lost and now rediscovered species. Local people should be proud on this unique species that is not found anywhere else in the world and should be part of its conservation”, emphasizes Dr. Milada Řeháková.

Information about this amazing rediscovery was presented to the scientific community for the first time at the Wildlife Conservation Society of the Philippines symposium on 17- 20th April in The Philippines.

Tarsier baby with its mother - photo Milada Řeháková

It is our pleasure to inform you that our article about two cases of predation of the Philippine tarsiers recorded during our fieldwork on Bohol Island in years 2009 and 2010 has been published in scientific journal Acta Ethologica.

The first “victim” was a one month old baby tarsier. This situation was even sadder, because our observation was the first observation of development of young Philippine tarsier in the wild. The other predated tarsier was the first female captured on our second study site in Bilar on Bohol Island. She was relatively small therefore we think she might be young. Maybe it was because of her inexperience that she was found in stomach of a monitor lizard after two weeks of observation.

New tarsier enclosure in Loboc - photo Milada Řeháková

It is almost one year since I have come back from my last fieldtrip to the night pixies, the Philippine tarsier. During that time we have been busy with data analyses, preparation of the next steps and also gathering funds for further continuation of the Tarsius project. The project has been dealing with tarsier research and conservation of the Philippine tarsier since four years. Christmas time is coming and I am getting my short, T-shirts and the technical equipment that is the main and heaviest part of my luggage ready for the next trip to the tropical island.

Last year we have achieved a unique success as we have informed you on our website. Tarsiers that have been held in captivity as a tourist attraction on Bohol island, in conditions were they were dying very quickly and have being replaced by newly captured animals have been saved. That all happened because of our project and a great help of Czech Ambassador Josef Rychtar. I have read all this news in newspapers and I was very curious how the real situation looks like. And I can say that I was quite pleasantly surprised. All the facilities with unsuitable conditions, or almost all…., were closed and the tarsiers move to a new big and open enclosure, where the visitors are accompanied by trained guides. It is a huge change if you compare the situation that lasted since more than ten years and due to increasing tourism was getting worse and worse without any local regulation.

More than one hundred animals have been transferred to a 16 ha area. Only one part, around one hectare, where you can find eight tarsiers is accessible for tourist. So there is a question, where are the other one hundred tarsiers. According to the guides they are in the breeding area, according to other sources they have simply run away. It is highly probably because the enclosure, similarly to Corella, has no ceiling.

Anyway, it is obvious that the number of displayed tarsier has decreased and that the conditions are much better than before. Therefore, the number of illegally poached tarsier will decrease. At least until the hunters find another market.

What will follow?

It is obvious that the Philippine tarsier is a symbol of the Philippines and a tourist attraction. However, this fame is not helping much. The population is decreasing due to illegal hunting and habitat, forest, destruction. With a growing human population in the Philippines, this trend can hardly be stopped. The situation is even more complicated. Tarsiers hardly survive in captivity and even the best zoos of the world were not able to keep and breed these animals successfully. And this is a big challenge of the Tarsius project!

In cooperation with a local conservation organization Wings of Serenity (and Simply Butterflies Conservation Centre) we decided to set up a conservation centre for tarsiers. Among its goals is breeding of these unique animals, development of further conservation activities focusing on visitors of the centre and development of local ecotourism in Bilar, Bohol Island. We have planned carefully the next steps during our last two months trip. The breeding enclosures will be situated in a new area and it should be built until end of the year. As we believe starting of the breeding facility directly in the Philippines, in the local area, can eliminate some of the factors that could possibly lead to a failure in the past – e. g. stress during transport, climate and natural food. On the other hand training of the keepers and caretakers will be among the most important goals in the future and we will certainly need another person who will join our team in the Philippines.

Measuring of area of the planned tarsier enclosure - photo Václav Řehák

In December the Czech deputy minister of foreign affairs Tomáš Dub visited the Philippines. During this time he visited also Bohol Island, the field site of the Tarsius project led by a Czech zoologist focused on conservation of the Philippine tarsier. He has also a meeting with the undersecretary of policy and planning Demetrio L. Ignacio.

The Tarsus Project led by RNDr. Milada Řeháková, Ph.D. from Decin Zoo is involved in conservation of the Philippine tarsier in the Philippines intensively since 2009. The project has already achieved lot of success. The most important think is the role in closing of facilities displaying the Tarsiers as a tourist attraction in unsuitable conditions where they died soon and transfer of all the animals into a bigger naturally planted enclosure in Loboc. This happened soon after Dr. Milada Řeháková together with the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Josef Rychtar submitted reports to the Secretary of the Environment Ramon Paje and Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio.

On a meeting of the deputy minister Tomáš Dub, the ambassador Josef Rychtar, undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio and director of Protected Areas and Wildlife Management Bureau Theresa Mundita S. Lim, the undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio highlighted the that this goal was achieved mainly due to the effort and suggestion of the Czech zoologist Milada Řeháková-Petrů who is working on Bohol Island and submitted the suggestion for further improvements in her report.

Following this important step in tarsier conservation, the Departmenet of Enviromnent and Natural Resources approved extending the tarsier sanctuary in Corella and Sikatuna of additional 167 ha (8 ha so far) and the Czech deputy minister of foreign affairs and the ambassador participated on the official ceremony.

Download the press release.

The Philippine tarsier, the cute pixie with huge eyes is a common victim of an illegal pet trade and it also served as a tourist attraction and thus a welcome source of money. The Tarsius Project, lead by a Czech zoologist Dr. Milada Řeháková-Petrů from Decin Zoo focuses on research and conservation of the Philippine tarsier since 2009.

The Philippine tarsier is one of the symbols of the Philippines and especially of the Bohol Island. The local residents reacted to the growing tourism very skilfully. Almost ten new facilities were established along the main tourist rout from the famous beach in the south to the UNESCO Chocolate hills during last couple of years. They display these tiny animals, often incorrectly called the smallest monkey of the world. Despite they are an especially protected faunal species of the Philippines they are commonly displayed in conditions that are far from what they need for survival.

“I conducted a survey of all captive tarsier facilities on the main tourist route on Bohol Island and evaluated the condition in that the animals are kept and also behaviour of the visitors and guides. The results were shocking. The tarsiers were kept in a very limited area, some animals were apparently sick or dying. The nocturnal tarsier were permanently stressed,” says Dr. Řeháková.

If the displayed tarsiers die, their numbers are replenished by tarsiers captured from the wild. Growing demand on numbers of tarsier kept in captivity increases the numbers of illegally caught tarsiers from the wild. The tarsiers are thus slowly disappearing from neighbouring forests. This is the reality. Or it was, until the Czech team started to focus on this issue.

The Czech zoologist presented the results of her survey to the Minister of the Environment Ramon Paje and also the Undersecretary for policy and planning Demetrio Ignacio, DENR officials, Bohol governor Edgar Chatto and other authorities and a meeting was held in December 2010 especially because of this issue. This all wouldn’t be possible without help and support of the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Dr. Josef Rychtar.

During this year, it became apparent that these efforts bear the first fruits. The authorities recognized the seriousness of the whole situation, thanks to the efforts of Czech colleagues. It was decided that all the tarsiers from the facilities along the main tourist road will be transferred to more suitable conditions. Recently, a new enclosure naturally planted was opened in Loboc. Tarsiers find more space and also less stress here. The most importantly, this step will hopefully also cause a decrease of newly poached tarsiers.

Undersecretary Demeterio Ignacio told to the Czech Ambassador during their meeting that he had appreciated all the efforts done by Czech researchers, especially by Dr. Milada Řeháková whose conclusions and recommendations were accepted by DENR in further development of protection of tarsiers in specific conditions in Bohol island. He emphasized necessity of continuation of other steps suggested by Czech team to save this rare species which forms part of Filipino cultural heritage and national treasury.

“It is a great success, and I am very happy that all this happened so fast. It is an important step in tarsier conservation and I very much appreciate the decision of the Philippine authorities”, says Dr. Milada Řeháková, who focuses, apart from the activities already mentioned, also on conservation education of local people in cooperation with a local partner Simply Butterflies Conservation Centre in Bilar.

WAZA is the unifying organisation for the world zoo and aquarium community. Its more than 300 members include leading zoos, aquariums, associations, affiliate organisations and corporate partners from around the world. It promotes cooperation between zoological gardens and aquariums with regard to the conservation, management and breeding of animals in human care and encourages the highest standards of animal welfare and husbandry. It promotes environmental education, wildlife conservation and environmental research. Through branding (and promoting) of suitable conservation projects WAZA became more involved in in situ conservation.

We thank WAZA for this support!

Keeping of tarsiers for a tourist amusement is a sad issue. Since this documentary was created a few things have changes. As we informed you recently, the conditions of these animals are slowly improving thanks to our effort and cooperation with local authorities.

After the meeting focused on the captive tarsiers issue in December 2010, the first results occurred. At the beginning of this year DENR (Department for Environment and Natural Resources) stopped issuing of the permits for new tarsier holders. This ban has been valid since 2008 but was not implemented and new facilities have been established. It has stopped now.

35 captive tarsiers kept in inappropriate conditions were released by local politicians and DENR personnel on 22^nd July 2011 into the wild in Loboc area. We do not know if there were detailed preparations prior the release and if the animals will be monitored. But this act will for sure help to reduce abusing of tarsiers and the illegal trade and poaching.

The tourist spot operators and the stuff-toy makers protest against this act. Let’s hope that the interest in tarsiers and their future will be more important then the commercial interests.

Find more in The Bohol Standard article.