CONSERVATION STATUS
CITES: Appendix II
(What is CITES?)
IUCN Red List: T. pelengensis, T. sangirensis: EN; T. bancanus, T. dentatus, T. tarsier: VU; T. syrichta: NT; T. lariang, T. pumilus: DD
(What is Red List?)
Key: EN = Endangered, EN = Endangered, VU = Vulnerable, VU = Vulnerable, VU = Vulnerable, NT = Near threatened, DD = Data deficient, DD = Data deficient
(Click on species name to see IUCN Red List entry, including detailed status assessment information.)
Tarsius dentatusPhoto: Stefan Merker
T. tumpara of Siau Island, Indonesia is considered one of the World's 25 Most Endangered
Primates and has been assessed as Critically Endangered (CR A1acd) under the
IUCN Red List criteria (Mittermeier et al. 2007). Captive management of
tarsiers is difficult and up until now has not met with great success, partially
owing to the nutritional difficulties involved with a primate that eats only
live food further complicated by its reproductive life-history. As a result,
over half of the tarsiers caught in the wild die within two years in captivity
and captive infant mortality is high (Fitch-Snyder 2003). Further, at no point
have any of the Sulawesian tarsiers been held in captivity (Gursky 2007a).
CONSERVATION THREATS
Threat: Human-Induced Habitat Loss and Degradation
Habitat destruction, change, and fragmentation pose significant threats to
tarsiers with T. bancanus, T. tarsier, and T. syrichta all
having lost more than half of their original habitat (Wright et al. 1987;
MacKinnon 1997; Gursky 1998; Yustian 2007). For example, on Sulawesi, rates of
habitat destruction remain high, even within protected areas (Gursky 1998).
Further, tarsiers are usually not found in areas with high human populations and
those which are under intensive agricultural use (Leksono et al. 1997). T.
b. saltator habitats are destroyed for palm and pepper plantations and due
to tin mining (Yustian 2007). Logging reduces tarsier density by destroying
preferred supports and sleeping sites and by producing loud noises which
disturbs the animals (Merker & Mühlenberg 2000). Further, areas that
have been logged are then susceptible to other activities such as the
establishment of plantations, the raising of livestock, and settlement (Merker
et al. 2005). Strangler figs are often removed from human-utilized forests
because they threaten commercially valuable trees. Because spectral tarsiers
(T. tarsier) prefer strangler figs as sleeping sites, such destruction
may threaten the species (Gursky 1998). Some tarsiers, such as T. b.
saltator are able to live in small patches of secondary harvested forest
(Yustian 2007). While tarsiers can inhabit degraded areas, secondary habitats
and areas under cultivation, if all suitable sleeping sites are destroyed or
cleared, then they become locally extinct (Leksono et al. 1997). Further,
tarsiers are not found in all secondary habitats (Dagosto & Gebo 1996/1997).
In general, densities of T. dentatus become progressively lower with
progressively higher levels of disturbance (Merker et al. 2005). Although
T. b. saltator can live in secondary habitats with dense undergrowth,
they are not found in those that are carefully cleared and managed by humans
(Yustian 2007). Compounding all of these problems in some habitats is a lack of
enforcement of existing rules designed to protect tarsier habitats (Gursky
2007a).
Threat: Harvesting (hunting/gathering)
Hunting can also be a significant threat to tarsiers. For example, the Siau
Island Tarsier (unnamed Tarsius sp.) is hunted as a snack, sometimes
eaten 5-10 at a time (Mittermeier et al. 2007). Further, opportunistic hunting
of tarsiers occurs on Sulawesi, often utilizing dogs and blowguns (Gursky
2007a).
Threat: Persecution
Tarsiers are sometimes erroneously persecuted by farmers who believe that the
tarsiers are eating their crops while in actuality they only eat animal prey,
including pests that pose real threats to crops (Leksono et al. 1997; Merker et
al. 2005). In fact, tarsiers could potentially act as a natural pesticide
(Leksono et al. 1997).
Threat: Pollution
In some areas, the use of agricultural poisons have caused local extinction
of tarsiers while in other areas of poison use, if still present, tarsiers show
signs of sickness, including sores and low body weight which may be associated
with such poisons (Leksono et al. 1997).
Threat: Natural Disasters
Forest fires, partially the result of human action and climate fluctuations,
threaten tarsiers and have the potential to decimate entire tarsier populations
(Wright 2003).
Threat: Human Disturbance
Human political unrest, especially civil wars in the Philippines and
Indonesia have threatened tarsier species, especially those that reside entirely
within a single country (all but T. bancanus). This is because
protected habitats are often exploited during periods of lawlessness associated
with political unrest (Wright 2003).
LINKS TO MORE ABOUT CONSERVATION
CONSERVATION INFORMATION
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ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED IN Tarsius CONSERVATION
Content last modified: December 1, 2010
Written by Kurt Gron. Reviewed by Nanda Grow.
Cite this page as:
Gron KJ. 2010 December 1. Primate Factsheets: Tarsier (Tarsius) Conservation . <http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/tarsier/cons>. Accessed 2013 May 24.
