Tarsier or loris ?

Onychorhynchus coronatus

Onychorhynchus coronatus

Well-Known Member
Which interest you more tarsiers or lorises and why ?

Do you have a favourite species or memory of seeing one of these primates in the wild or captivity ?

Look forward to reading your replies.
 
I'm interested in all animals so I find it extremely hard to answer these threads asking people to pick a favourite.

However, interesting as lorises undoubtably are, I would have to choose tarsiers; primarily because I've seen so few tarsiers that seeing one is always exciting.

I was fortunate see Philippine tarsiers several times at both Bristol Zoo and Frankfurt Zoo back in the 1980s.

More recently, in 2015, a keeper at the Rare Species Conservation Centre kindly took me "behind the scenes" to see a Sulawesi tarsier.
 
Tim May said:
I'm interested in all animals so I find it extremely hard to answer these threads asking people to pick a favourite.

However, interesting as lorises undoubtably are, I would have to choose tarsiers; primarily because I've seen so few tarsiers that seeing one is always exciting.

I was fortunate see Philippine tarsiers several times at both Bristol Zoo and Frankfurt Zoo back in the 1980s.

More recently, in 2015, a keeper at the Rare Species Conservation Centre kindly took me "behind the scenes" to see a Sulawesi tarsier.
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Thanks for your comment Tim !

I agree its hard because I find so many species interesting too. But I sort of want these threads to be a bit of a challenge for people. I want to get a general picture of what species people find charismatic and aesthetically appealing and why.

Interesting choice and I definitely think that the rarity of the tarsier in captivity (along with many factors) is something that increases their appeal hugely. It seems that you may have seen these little primates more than most people on this forum by the way.

I'm quite jealous :p as I would love to see these either in the wild or captivity and hope to see one in the future. So far I have only seen the slender and slow loris, some galagos and the potto so seeing the tarsier would be the cherry on the cake.
 
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ThylacineAlive said:
I'll probably say tarsier just because I've never seen one and they are so unique in their appearance and evolution, however if you asked which I'd rather see grow in popularity and diversity in zoos, I'd say loris.

~Thylo
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Interesting, tarsiers are certainly unique little primates and their bizarre appearance is really one of the draws (I think that even people who see a picture of one and don't know what it is find them strangely appealing).

Personally, I would love to witness a wild tarsier hunting its prey in the forest one day, it would be a dream come true. Unfortunately I haven't seen a live tarsier either though I have seen several taxidermy specimens which is interesting but hardly the best way to see or appreciate these little gremlins.

Why exactly would you like to see the loris grow in popularity and diversity in zoos ?
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Interesting, tarsiers are certainly unique little primates and their bizarre appearance is really one of the draws (I think that even people who see a picture of one and don't know what it is find them strangely appealing).

Personally, I would love to witness a wild tarsier hunting its prey in the forest one day, it would be a dream come true.

Why exactly would you like to see the loris grow in popularity and diversity in zoos ?
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Seeing a tarsier would be a dream come true for me :p

Lorises seem to do much better in captivity than tarsiers, especially ex-situ, and there are a lot of species which are highly endangered. Them being so small and easy to house rather implies that, should they gain popularity, programs for a good number of species could probably be maintained across Europe and the US.

~Thylo
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Seeing a tarsier would be a dream come true for me :p

Lorises seem to do much better in captivity than tarsiers, especially ex-situ, and there are a lot of species which are highly endangered. Them being so small and easy to house rather implies that, should they gain popularity, programs for a good number of species could probably be maintained across Europe and the US.

~Thylo
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Me too, to see these little gargoyles leaping around decapitating tree frogs, lizards and insects in the jungle would be a wish granted. :D

Yep, totally agree with you there. I'm still informing myself about the challenges that have faced establishing the tarsier in captivity so there is a lot that I don't know but from the little that I have read it seems to be an incredibly difficult task.

I would say though that the lorises don't seem to fair particularly well in captivity either but at least we are gradually finding out much more about how to maintain them in optimal captive conditions and breed them thanks to research.

Keeping the tarsier alive, well and breeding in captivity on the other hand sadly seems to be terra incognita.
 
Dassie rat said:
I like lorises and tarsiers. If I had to choose, I would choose tarsiers. I saw 4 Philippine tarsiers at Bristol Zoo in 1987.
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Once again the tarsier, this is really interesting.

Very lucky to have seen these Dassie rat and once again I must admit that I'm a little envious that I haven't yet managed to :p.

Were they active when you saw them at Bristol ?
 
Tarsiers for me, I failed to see them in Frankfurt back in the late 70s or early 80s, and was looking forward to seeing them wild this year in Sulawesi; thanks, COVID! Slow loris is on my seen in the wild list, 3 or 4 individuals during a very successful 2 weeks in Sabah, one of which was crossing a road as we went out on a night drive; superb little beasties.
 
Tetzoo Quizzer said:
Tarsiers for me, I failed to see them in Frankfurt back in the late 70s or early 80s, and was looking forward to seeing them wild this year in Sulawesi; thanks, COVID! Slow loris is on my seen in the wild list, 3 or 4 individuals during a very successful 2 weeks in Sabah, one of which was crossing a road as we went out on a night drive; superb little beasties.
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Tarsiers are definitely in the lead at the moment.

Ah ha ! so finally a species that you haven't seen yet :p

But seriously I totally understand your frustrations, COVID-19 has p***** on everyones parade and especially when it comes to viewing wildlife in the field (has for me too as I would be out in the field now but am instead doing administrative work due to the pandemic).

Awesome to have seen slow loris in the wild though this is another species that I would dearly like to see one day in its natural habitat (have only seen a couple of these in captivity).
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Once again the tarsier, this is really interesting.

Very lucky to have seen these Dassie rat and once again I must admit that I'm a little envious that I haven't yet managed to :p.

Were they active when you saw them at Bristol ?
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I don't remember seeing any of them move. I went to Bristol with some zoo volunteers. Only one other zoo volunteer was interested that I'd seen tarsiers.
 
Dassie rat said:
I don't remember seeing any of them move. I went to Bristol with some zoo volunteers. Only one other zoo volunteer was interested that I'd seen tarsiers.
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But at least you got to see them which is better than my predicament :p

ThylacineAlive said:
I believe there is actually a Philippine Tarsier breeding center in the Philippines, as well as a couple other zoos housing the species successfully over there.

~Thylo
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Yes, it seems that there is a center over there doing this ex-situ work. I wonder whether it is the same one that is mentioned in this tarsier documentary from the early 2000's that I watched recently (it was apparently then still just an idea and hadn't been actualized).

 
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Brum said:
Tarsier all the way, seen lots of Loris taxa, and I love watching them, (My local (very small) zoo has Pygmy and Slender in a dedicated house, along with Potto elsewhere for example) but still I want/need to see a Tarsier. :)
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Tarsiers seem to be absolutely smashing this thread at the moment. :D

I totally empathise with what you say Brum and definitely share that yearning to see a tarsier.
 
PossumRoach said:
I saw tarsiers but made a fool out of myself because I didn't realize that my camera had flash on despite thinking that I turned it off. I love lorises (specifically pygmies) because their face is more beast than man.
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Lorises - 1 Tarsiers-5

It seems that tarsiers are still currently in the lead but maybe lorises will catch up

Did you see these in captivity or the wild ?

I love what you say here "more beast than man" and its true the loris has less of a human-like face than the tarsier because of the longer snout.
 
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Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Lorises - 1 Tarsiers-5

It seems that tarsiers are still currently in the lead but maybe lorises will catch up

Did you see these in captivity or the wild ?

I love what you say here "more beast than man" and its true the loris has less of a human-like face than the tarsier because of the longer snout.
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I saw them in Ueno zoo.

I say lorises seem more beast than man but slender lorises might be an exception.
 
PossumRoach said:
I saw them in Ueno zoo.

I say lorises seem more beast than man but slender lorises might be an exception.
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Is that because the slender loris has a more bent over posture ? or is it something about their hands or face ?

After having spent quite a lot of time observing the potto pair at ZSL when I was in London last year I find their hands and fingers to look uncannily human right down to their claws which resemble human finger nails. However, the overall appearance does seem to be much more beast.
 
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