This was declared by tour officials at the Tarsier Conservation Area in Loboc, Bohol during the conduct of the Biological Sciences Department Bohol Trip 2011 participated by biology students of De La Salle University (DLSU)-Dasmariñas, Cavite in this paradise island recently.
Let me first give a background on Philippine Tarsiers.They are not monkeys. They are primates — the smallest primates.
They are nocturnal mammals, meaning they sleep in the day and they’re awake at night. These small primates have really small brains and their eyes are three times bigger than their brains.
Their head is very fragile and sensitive because their craniums are open, therefore, making it soft and vulnerable.
When tarsiers are stressed, they are prone to suicide. As their way of suicide, they bang their little heads on the tree branches until they die.
During the 1960s, the Philippine tarsier are free to roam the place of Bohol and the government were very lenient to the tourists in allowing them to touch the gentle primates.
The tourists kept touching the tarsiers, squeezed them for their cuteness and took pictures of them with their camera flashes. The poor little creatures got stressed and ended up committing suicide. This was how they started to be labelled as “critically endangered.”
Now, the local government of Bohol became very strict and began protecting the tarsiers. They have been creating peaceful and safe havens for the tarsiers where tourists can look at them but they are not allowed to touch them, take pictures with flashes and not allowed to make noise.
With less stress, such policy allowed then tarsiers to live on a better environment and multiply.
Along with the Chocolate Hills, the Tarsier Conservation Area in Loboc has again placed Bohol in the world map as an environment-conscious province with the local government’s determination to preserve its resources against human abuse and exploitation.
By Patricia B. Ilagan
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