Discovery of Sulawesi's smiling primates a cause of celebration

Tue, 01/27/2009 1:26 PM  |  Lifestyle

Indonesia covers just over one percent of the earth's land surface and yet this island nation is home to about 17 percent of our planet's plant and animal species, some of which are found no where else in the world.

The many voices of concern about Indonesia's environmental degradation can erroneously lead us to believe that the country has little left to offer in the way of nature. But this could not be further from the truth.

Isolated from the vast expanses of beautiful countryside, city dwellers can sometimes be forgiven for not understanding and appreciating the significance of Indonesia to the world's ecosystems. The hustle and bustle of metropolitan life can overshadow the surrounding beauty of nature.

The gloom and doom so often reported about the state of our environment can give the false impression that there is nothing left to protect and nurture. This is far from the truth.

While it is important for ecologists to be ringing alarm bells about the very real threats facing nature, we should also be celebrating its magnificence.

News of the recent rediscovery of a long-lost species of one of the smallest and rarest primates on a remote island in Indonesia surely provides cause for merriment and jubilation.

Conducting a survey of Mount Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park on the island of Sulawesi, a team from Texas A&M University captured three pygmy tarsiers, a tiny species of primate that was last collected in 1921.

This extraordinary, "gremlin-like" animal was assumed to be extinct until 2000 when two scientists studying rats accidently trapped and killed one.

The American scientists spent two months deploying hundreds of mist nets to capture the gremlin-like creatures so they could be fitted with radio collars and tracked.

Pygmy tarsiers are among the smallest and rarest primates in the world. The species is distinguished from other tarsiers by its diminutive size, weighing no more than 50 grams.

They are most commonly found in monogamous bonded pairs. The species has two breeding seasons, one at the beginning of the rainy season and the other at the end, separated by about six months. Pregnancy lasts about 180 days, and births occur in May and from November to December.

Infants develop quickly, beginning to capture their own prey as young as six weeks of age. Interestingly, the young females remain with parents until adulthood, while young males leave the natal group as juveniles.

The Pygmy Tarsier is nocturnal, mainly live in trees spending most daylight hours sleeping on vertical branches in the canopy.

These goggle-eyed animals have long spindly fingers, feed on insects and can rotate their heads 180 degrees like an owl.

There is no doubt that this incredible discovery should encourage the Indonesian authorities to better protect the mountainous park which is facing damaging encroachment.

Straddling the so-called Wallace line, an area of biological discontinuity between Asia and Australia, Sulawesi is characterized by high levels of endemism - more than 60 percent of its mammals and more than one third of its birds are found nowhere else on the planet.

Sulawesi's biodiversity is partly the result of its unusual geography with nowhere on the island being more than 100 kilometers from the coast.

So unusual is the island's biodiversity, it helped inspire the British naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, to independently propose a theory of natural selection that significantly influenced Charles Darwin's infamous work on evolution.

Arguably, Sulawesi is an Indonesian island that has long been overlooked by conservationists.

And sadly, Sulawesi's forests are fast being converted for agriculture, felled by loggers, and degraded by miners.

A recent environmental study shows that roughly 80 percent of the island's natural habitats have been degraded or destroyed.

As the tree canopy is thinned by deforestation, the nocturnal primate becomes more exposed to predators. Researchers hope that with the rediscovery of pygmy tarsiers, the Indonesian government will work harder to protect both this vulnerable, tiny animal and its beautiful habitat.

The exciting find on Sulawesi is yet another reminder of the incredible wealth of wildlife that live here. Indonesia is home to some of the world's most exotic flora and fauna.

The cute pygmy tarsier looks like it has a permanent smile on its face. But its habitat is rapidly disappearing. Urgent steps must be taken to ensure their preservation.

Jonathan Wootliff is an independent sustainable development consultant specializing in the building of productive relationships between companies and NGOs. He can be contacted at jonathan@wootliff.com

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