Pygmy Tarsier Rediscovered After 80 Years

Tiny Primate Found in Indonesia

Mccain in RightPundits.com has published an article about a thought to be extinct animal that has just been found -- the pygmy tarsier. While I've never heard of the creature, Mccain's article, "Pygmy Tarsiers: Furbys Found," says that they are "world famous" and have not been seen for 80 years. They have now been found on the island of Indonesia.

The pygmy tarsiers are called "furbys" because they resemble the gremlins from the popular movie of the same name.

The animals look somewhat devilish with large rounded heads and large eyes tipping somewhat inward. They have very thin digits that look uncannily like human fingers.

The article goes on to report that the pygmy tarsiers have bad attitudes. One nipped a scientist on the expedition that discovered it.

Pygmy tarsiers are strictly carnivorous feeding primarily on insects but also ingesting birds, snakes and small rodents on occasion. This is pretty aggressive work for an animal that is only four inches long and weighs just two ounces.

The rediscovered tarsier is nocturnal and lives in trees.

The regular tarsier that the pygmy resembles has enormous eyes. It is an astounding creature in that it "leaps" at its prey. It doesn't look like it could leap at anything. Further, its brain receives data on a different basis than similar animals such as the lemur and monkey.

The pygmy tarsier, like the normal-sized tarsier, lives in a two-parent family for at least two birthing cycles. The babies are born with fur, eyes open, and capable of climbing immediately.

Several years ago I became interested in dwarf hamsters. They are somewhat different in that offspring tend to mate with the parents. This is unlike the pygmy tarsier where the child leaves the nest.

Dwarf hamsters differ from tarsiers in another way with respect as to how many offspring they have. Dwarf hamsters can have several babies, tarsiers will only have one. Also, dwarf hamster babies are born helpless.