Social Behavior of a Reproducing Pair of the Philippine Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) in Captivity.

Social interactions of the nocturnal primates are not well studied. One of the species for which social behavior is scarcely known is the Philippine tarsier (Tarsius [= Carlito] syrichta). We observed a reproducing pair of captive individuals over two mating seasons for two consecutive years. The tarsiers spent approximately 4% of their activity budget on social interactions; ca. 20% of time in 0-1 m proximity to each other; and shared sleeping sites for half of the study time. The majority of the animals' social interactions were peaceful: affiliative and sexual (83%), and the smallest component of the behavior was agonistic (17%). We witnessed two copulation events (one per estrus day), each lasting ca. 5 min, and both occurring just after waking. We revealed temporal - nightly and hourly - fluctuations in the frequency of social interactions, in the distances the individuals spent from each other and in the number of vocalizations. The results present the first assessment of the social behavior of the Philippine tarsier, much needed to improve the captive breeding management for this highly sensitive species threatened with extinction.

Successful breeding attempt of a pair of Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) in a conservation center in Bilar, Bohol, Philippines and recommendations for tarsier husbandry.

The Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) belongs to the least known nocturnal primates. Tarsiers and remaining biodiversity of the Philippines are under tremendous threats from increasing human expansion, with habitat loss and illegal pet trade being the main reasons for tarsier population decline. In addition, even though the attempts were made by western and local facilities, tarsiers have not survived well in captivity. In this paper, I present an example of successful breeding of the Philippine tarsier in captive conditions but in natural climate. As the most important elements of success, I see a large amount of space provided to tarsiers, the climate similar to their natural habitat and the food resembling their natural diet. Our pair of tarsiers were joined during the mating period and held separately outside the mating period, which corresponds with their behavior in the wild and may have played a crucial role in breeding success. Eliminating stress to animals is also important. The study can provide valuable guidelines for other facilities keeping tarsiers in the Philippines and help to improve tarsiers' welfare and in the future help to establish a viable captive population of the Philippine tarsier that will serve as a backup population and also will decrease demand on tarsiers captured from the wild.

Activity Patterns of Captive Philippine Tarsiers (Tarsius syrichta): Differences Related to Sex and Social Context.

Among tarsiers, nocturnal, obligatory faunivorous primates inhabiting islands of South-East Asia, the Philippine tarsier (Tarsius [= Carlito] syrichta) is one of the least studied. To date, activity patterns of this threatened species have not been the subject of any investigation. In the present study, we provide the first quantitative data on how captive male and female T. syrichta apportion their time for various activities in two social contexts: solitary and paired. We found that the sexes do not differ in activity budgets during the non-mating season, both spending most of their time scanning, resting, foraging and travelling. Comparison of activity budgets of the sexes between the mating and non-mating seasons revealed that although both tarsiers noticeably increased travelling time at the expense of time spent resting, the male changed his behaviour to a much greater extent than the female. We also report on fluctuations in the tarsiers' activities throughout a night and compare time budgets of T. syrichta with available data on the western and eastern species of tarsiers. The results extend the current knowledge of tarsier behaviour and may also assist in practical considerations for keeping this highly sensitive, difficult-to-breed species in captivity.

Two new species of Eimeria (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) in Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta).

Philippine tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) is a small nocturnal primate from the Philippines. Little is known about tarsier parasites, including coccidia (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae), a highly prevalent parasitic protist group in all vertebrate classes. Only 7 valid species of the genus Eimeria, seven species of Isospora and 5 species of Cyclospora have been described in Primates. This study extends the number of coccidia known in primates by two new species obtained from faeces of Philippine tarsiers from Bohol Island. The newly described Eimeria syrichta n. sp. and Eimeria boholensis n. sp. differ morphologically from each other as well as from other coccidia reported from primates. Partial DNA sequences of three genes were obtained from oocysts of E. syrichta n. sp. and E. boholensis n. sp., and formed clusters according to their host specificity; however, there are no other sequentional data of coccidia from primates, except for the genus Cyclospora, which clusters inside the chicken eimerians, and Cystoisospora belli, which is phylogenetically related to Sarcocystidae. More molecular data on coccidia infecting primates are needed for further discussion.