Discover the Tiny World of Tarsiers: 13 Amazing Fun Facts to Enchant and Delight You

1. Acrobatic Ninjas

Move over, Olympic athletes, there's a new long-jump champion in town: Tarsiers can leap up to 16 feet from tree to tree using their hind legs, which are nearly twice the length of their bodies, and specially-adapted elongated foot bones, making them the acrobatic ninjas of the animal kingdom.
Source => worldatlas.com

2. Marty Feldman's Rivals

Who needs eyes in the back of their head when you're a tarsier rocking a 360-degree neck swivel and eyeballs so big, they'd make Marty Feldman jealous? With these peepers, they put night owls to shame: Tarsiers possess eyes that are roughly the same volume as their brain, which don't move within their sockets, necessitating them to twist their heads to take in the sights of their natural habitats.
Source => nhm.ac.uk

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3. Toilet Claw Attendants

Tarsiers: Nature's most efficient bathroom attendants, armed with their trusty "toilet claws" for grooming and an array of all-natural scented oils from their facial, abdominal, and naughty bits glands: Tarsiers use their long, curved claws to maintain impeccable hygiene while simultaneously marking their territory and communicating with their fellow critters through their strategically placed scent glands.
Source => marybatessciencewriter.com

4. Trampoline-free Jumpers

Who needs a trampoline when you're a tarsier?: These tiny primates possess such powerful hind legs that they can jump an incredible 40 times their body length in a single leap, earning them a gold medal in the animal kingdom's own long jump competition.
Source => a-z-animals.com

5. True Kings of Peepers

Who turned the lights out? Oh, it's just a tarsier: a creature so adept at seeing in the dark, it makes a cat envious. Meet the true king of peepers: The Philippine tarsier boasts the largest eyes relative to its body size of any mammal in the world! Its enormous eyes stay fixed in their sockets, but its neck's flexibility offers incredible movement, allowing for some seriously sneaky side-glances.
Source => cnn.com

6. Gold-Medal Arboreal Gymnasts

If the Olympics had an event called "Extreme Arboreal Gymnastics," tarsiers would take home the gold every single time: These tiny, tree-dwelling daredevils can leap up to 5.4 meters (18 feet) in a single bound, using their long hind legs and remarkably slender fingers and toes to propel themselves forward and grip onto branches with style to spare.
Source => seaworld.org

7. DJ Tarsiers

If tarsiers were DJs, they'd never miss a beat on the dance floor: these pint-sized primates can rotate their heads a full 180 degrees, giving them an impressively wide field of view to spot tasty morsels in the dark, courtesy of their large, night-vision-enhancing peepers.
Source => study.com

8. Staring Contest Champs

If tarsiers were to enter a staring contest, they'd undoubtedly win by a landslide: these tiny primates have the largest eyes relative to their body size of any known mammal, and can rotate them a full 180 degrees to spot prey even in the dimmest of lighting.
Source => primate.wisc.edu

9. Nature's Superheroes

Step aside, Superman: tarsiers are the true masters of leaping tall buildings (or trees) in a single bound! These pint-sized primates pack a serious punch when it comes to acrobatics: tarsiers can leap more than 40 times their body length, thanks to elongated leg bones and a fused tibia and fibula, which act as shock absorbers. Their ambush-style hunting skills, complete with a sudden lunge and impressive hand-eye coordination, solidify their position as nature's superheroes.
Source => animaldiversity.org

10. Sci-Fi Mansion Peepers

It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but in the case of tarsiers, they seem like bay windows from a sci-fi mansion: these quirky critters have enormous eyeballs that are too large to rotate in their sockets, forcing them to swivel their heads a full 180 degrees just to take a gander at their surroundings.
Source => nytimes.com

11. Culinary Adventure-Diet

Feeling peckish? Try a tarsier's diet – it's quite the culinary adventure: These little primates primarily chow down on spiders, beetles, grasshoppers, and walking sticks, but occasionally treat themselves to a fancy dinner with small birds, snakes, and lizards on the menu, thanks to their big eyes and impressive leaping skills that help them snatch up their prey with ease.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

12. Ultrasound Telephone

When tarsiers play "telephone," they prefer to use a frequency that's off the human radar: These pint-sized, shy primates are actually the only known primates to communicate using ultrasound. Scientists had to employ an innovative recording technique to uncover this extraordinary feat, indicating that tarsiers may use these private alarm calls to alert each other of nearby humans.
Source => royalsociety.org

13. Eyes vs. Identity Crisis

You've heard of the phrase "eyes bigger than your stomach," but have you met the tarsier, whose eyes could rival the size of its very identity crisis? Prepare for enlightenment: tarsiers boast enormous peepers in relation to their little noggins, primarily to maximize light intake during their nocturnal escapades, as their ocular gear doesn't have the usual night-vision upgrades other creatures possess. In fact, their eyes-to-brain ratio is a sight to behold, out-eyeballing even their primate cousins!
Source => ncbi.nlm.nih.gov