tarsier

Weekend Diversion: True Facts About...

esiegel — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 12:39:51 +0000

Weekend Diversion: True Facts About...

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." -Mark Twain

I am unimpressed with speculations that have no basis in fact, but if you can show how your claims are factually grounded and arrived at, they're certainly worth a listen to. And if your facts, logic and extrapolations are sound, you might even, as Sarah Jarosz sings,

Tell Me True.

Of course, if they're a little suspect instead, you can either lead people astray, or alternatively, create some of the best humor and satire ever created.

This weekend, I proudly introduce to you a series of nature videos by YouTube user zefrank1: True Facts About (various animals).

Image credit: Helen Thomas of http://www.travelblog.org/.

There are many animals that most of us know so little about, including the baby Echidna, above. So when I found out that there was a video called True Facts About Baby Echidnas, I had to check it out. Little did I know, this would be one of the most amazing nature videos I've ever watched. (Caution, the videos below start with ads!)

And there I am, laughing at mother nature, and yet I've totally come away having mastered this fact:

The larvae of an echidna is sometimes confused for a gummi bear. A blood-flavored, crunchy gummi bear.

But this is just the start of what's fast becoming a series. There are other videos highlighting other animals that are equally, wonderfully informative. Like the angler fish.

If you got past the flounder/angler fish encounter, you managed to learn about one of my favorite varieties, the deep-sea angler fish.

The deep-sea angler fish collects glowy-glowy bacteria in its wavy thing to create a tiny little light. Because it's dark as hell down there, and someone needs to light up that pretty, pretty lady.

Then, to kick off the new year, was my favorite of all his videos so far, True Facts About Sloths.

Favorite moment?

On average, the sloth can move around three feet per minute, which is an impressive three feet per minute faster than a dead sloth.

And that was followed up by True Facts About The Seahorse.

The seahorse truly is remarkable for its mating and reproductive strategies, but I loved the True/False section at the end.

If you said "false" to any of those, you're a cynical bastard when it comes to love, because the seahorse does all three.

That's right it does! And finally, there are True Facts About The Tarsier.

Lots of good facts in here, of course, but my favorite moment has to be this:

Each one of its eyes is heavier than its brain, which might explain why it hasn't invented anything.

There's a brand new one up about the Leaf Katydid, but it's not quite as good as these five. Still, I'm optimistic that the "True Facts" series will continue to combine humor and science along with ridiculous pictures and videos of funny-looking and behaving creatures. What a fun find to enjoy this weekend, and I hope you enjoyed the budding series as much as I did!

esiegel Sat, 02/02/2013 - 07:39

Tags

biology

Video

Angler Fish

baby echidna

I can't believe I got into science and didn't know this great series of snark. Now its really, really worth it.

These were some of the funniest yet most informational videos i have ever seen. I could not stop laughing at all of them. I have never heard of the echidna or the tarsier or how strangely awesome they both are. I look forward to zefrank1's (http://www.youtube.com/user/zefrank1?feature=watch) videos in the future and to learn about other weird creatures.

Ze Frank is kind of a big deal on the internet:

http://www.ted.com/speakers/ze_frank.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ze_Frank

http://www.zefrank.com/

Oh my god, I can't stop laughing.

You be the judge...

zooillogix — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:42:25 +0000

You be the judge...

"Scientists" tell us that the tarsier is the only member of its lonely family Tarsiidae, which itself is the lone extant family within the infraorder Tarsiiformes... We here at Zooillogix think they might be more closely related to other species than zoologists think...

Pygmy tarsier vs. Furby

Pygmy tarsier vs. Mogwai

Pygmy tarsier vs. Jabba

Pygmy tarsier vs. Little grey

Reader Suggested

Pygmy tarsier vs. Little Fuzzy

Credit to Mad Hussein LOL Scientist

Pygmy tarsier vs. Gilbert Gottfried

(Maybe the hands?) Credit to Katie Thompson

Pygmy tarsier vs. Critters

Credit to Benji Bleimanowitz

Pygmy tarsier vs. Boglins

Credit to Mordecai Lipshitz

Send in your own and we'll post'm - zooillogix [at] gmail

zooillogix Thu, 11/20/2008 - 04:42

Tags

Tarsiidae is a family, not a genus. The problem of recognizing homology vs convergent evolution is perplexing and often difficult. I don't know what to tell you.

I second Jim's point. Any classification methodology that includes Gilbert Gottfried in any other taxon is basically flawed.

That's it! The pygmy tarsier is a gashta!!! (Me = huge H. Beam Piper geek girl)

With those eyes and long fingers, he looks kind of like a C. Montgomery Burns in its larval stage.

I gotta go with Jenbug on this one.

Good luck finding a picture for that!

I can't believe I'm not the only one still obsessed with fuzzies. I even bought copies of the books for my kids...for some reason they just don't get it.

Thompson... it's Thompson.

Pygmy tarsier vs. Critters like 1`m :)
Good luck & thank you fot theme

definitely no.1

http://www.jessiecorp.com/4chan/RhinoHamster.jpg

My vote is the Furbie!

I am Nerea ( 10 years old) and he is Furby!!!!!

Yup,gotta be Furby,no doubt about it.

Pygmy Tarsier Rediscovered in Indonesia

zooillogix — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:23:58 +0000

Pygmy Tarsier Rediscovered in Indonesia

High in the mountaintop forests of Indonesia, this little Furby-gremlin hybrid hid undiscovered (and unmolested) for the last ninety years. Last seen alive in the 1920s, the pygmy tarsier was thought extinct until researchers from Texas A&M University rediscovered the little guy last month.

Pygmy tarsier is not amused.

Over a 2.5 month period, the scientists trapped two males and one female in Lore-Lindu National Park. After taking measurements and affixing radio collars, the researchers were unable to resist the urge to love them, and hug them, and squeeze them and call them George.

These primitive primates weigh only 2 ounces and live in the treetops where they hunt insects (you would too if you were 2 ounces) at night. Unlike most primates, the pygmy tarsier has claws instead of nails.

Handy dandy pygmy tarsier info sheet, in case you run across one on your way to work! Click to enlarge.

Tarsius pumilus takes careful mental note to bite all these a$$holes when they let him go.

Thanks to Liz Carter, Taylor Schreiber and Kangatron for the tips.

zooillogix Wed, 11/19/2008 - 06:23

Tags

The little gremlin bit one of the guys, too - LOL. Damn right he's not amused!

I think his name is Henry!

Furby? Nonsense! This is a young relative of Jabba the Hut.

It's Little Fuzzy! Ghost of H. Beam Piper, please call your office.

Pretty cool :)

The creepiest thing in this picture is that guy's hand... Bring on the nightmares!

selam tskler

those guy are our ancestors and deserve respect. I would like 2 own one but they need to stay in their own habitat... i would never tear down trees with little cute furry things in them.. ashamed becuz my friend kemal from indo probably evolved from those dudes LOL

It looks like a gremlin!!! so cute

Filipino Tarsiers

zooillogix — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:16:15 +0000

Filipino Tarsiers

Tarsiers are prosimian primates, sharing their primitive grouping with lemurs, bushbabies and the aye-aye. However, due to numerous similarities to ancestral monkeys, apes and humans, there is some disagreement as to whether tarsiers should be grouped with the other prosimians in the Suborder Strepsirrhini or with the monkeys and friends in the Suborder Haplorrhini. The tarsier finds all of this debate quite dull and prefers to spend its time eating insects and bird eggs.

These pictures were taken by our friend's father in the jungles of the central Philippines.

They look pissed.

Special thanks to Will O'Boyle Sr. for traveling to find these little guys and Jr. for forwarding along the pics.

Lunch time for Golem

Incidentally, I almost bought a tarsier t-shirt at a craft fair this weekend. Here are some other good ones.

zooillogix Mon, 06/30/2008 - 10:16

Tags

George Lucas is probably kicking himself now, that he forgot to include tarsiers in Star Wars

They look like bat-monkeys, what with those long fingers and bulbous head. I've always like tarsiers, and have wondered what their disposition is. I didn't realize they were so tiny.

Possibly not 'in the jungle' , maybe near the riverbank where a few captive "hold a tarsier" enterprises have set up. I dont think they are a serious threat to wild populations, they may even be breeding them. Critters sure can leap.

thanks

Just like to bring about a little bit of awareness regarding the tarsier kept at these tourist site in Loboc, most of the tarsier that end up at these tourist sites have been poached from the wild and they live only a very short time at these places, sometimes as little as two weeks because of the stress they are under by been on show. I live in the area and know that the poaching of tarsier has a big effect on the wild population. It is a big problem that we face for the long term survival of the tarsier if we can't stop the poaching of the tarsier for these tourist spots in Loboc. Very little is known about the tarsier and they don't breed well in captivity. The tarsier only breed once a year and can only gives birth to one baby. With all the tarsier been taken from the wild, it is very hard to recover the number that die in these tourist places. If something is not done soon, my guess it that in less that 8years we will not be able to see tarsier anymore in Bohol. At this time, tarsier are only found in about four very small pockets of forest in Bohol. Awareness needs to come about to save what we have left of the tarsier in the wild in Bohol.

I have to agree. Basic common sense should tell us that these little guys are built for night activity. Just check out their eyes. They should be sleeping now. It must be incredibly painful for them to keep their eyes open during the day like this. I cannot imagine how much this must hurt them to be so active in the daytime.This is not responsible behavior on the part of the 'zoo keepers'. Clearly they are not in the least concerned about the tarsiers except as a display animal for human tourists. This is about making money.
If we treated humans like this it would be called torture. its no wonder they die after a few weeks.

Dramatic Tarsier

bleimanb — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:02:28 +0000

Dramatic Tarsier

Almost a year ago we posted the Dramatic Chipmunk. Turns out he's got a cousin...

bleimanb Tue, 03/11/2008 - 12:02

Tags

tarsier

Lemur

primate

This has been said elsewhere, but methinks it's a tarsier.

Today's biopedantry:
That's a tarsier, and tarsiers ain't lemurs (different suborder). And that wasn't no chipmumk (woodchuck or other ground squirrel of some type).
But both are pretty funny.

Of COURSE it's a tarsier! That's what I wrote. Lemur? Where did you get that from? Weird.

OMG! U R CHANJIN DA HIZTOREE! LOLZ etc.

Heh, I posted this in my LJ, under 'Tarsier has reached critical mass.'