Reminder to Self: Slow Down on the Caffeine

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It's about time to have another photo of this unique Philippine mammal - the tarsier.

Early this year (2006), I took a vacation back to the Philippines especially to the island of Bohol particularly to see this fascinating animal. It's one of the smallest prosimians - some of them can fit inside your palm.

This species of tarsier is most commonly found on Samar, Leyte, Bohol, and Mindanao in the Philippines. They are found in areas of tall grasses, bushes, bamboo shoots, and small trees in tropical rainforests. They are arboreal and nocturnal. They spend the day hiding in dense vegetation and sleeping in trees. At night they emerge to move about and hunt for prey.

What's interesting is ... this particular group of tarsiers that I photographed are what the natives call 'showbiz tarsiers' as they are the ones being shown to tourists. Their behaviour has been so screwed up ... they are now diurnal instead of nocturnal ... but for a purpose though: to educate people about these animals. They are not particularly endangered (although it is vulnerable and threatened because of habitat destruction); people actually say you can find them easily if you know where to look ... but because it is unique and this particular species only found in the Philippines, people need to be educated and its preservation is important because it is part of the Filipino heritage.

It was also proclaimed by presidential decree that Philippine Tarsier is a specially
protected faunal species of the Philippines and that tthe hunting, killing, wounding, taking away, possession of the Philippine Tarsier and the conduct of activities
destructive of its habitats are prohibited. However, the possession of the Philippine Tarsier for educational, scientific or conservation-centered research purposes maybe allowed upon certification by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources secretary.

Sorry for the long-winded description.

The roller coaster ride on explore

On late June 21, this photographed appeared at explore's front page several times. Then when the link for explore June 22 appeared at explore June 21 p. 1 (the next day explore 500 listing appears after 5 o'clock pm central time on the top right of the page), I clicked on the link and saw it at No. 18. When the June 22 explore page finally went live, this was at no. 12 for that day. It never made it to the first page. It stayed on p. 2 for awhile, fluctuating from any place from 12-20. Then it just disappeared from the list ... and later on during the day, reappeared at no. 300 plus then disappeared again. A few days later (June 25), it magically reappeared on p. 1 for June 22 as no. 3 and stayed there fluctuating from no. 1 to 5. And now, it's gone again. Meanwhile, it appeared at Flickr's blog where most readers saw it. Over the days, it would appear on p. 1 or 2 or be gone totally from explore especially everytime I add it to a new pool. It's bizarre.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and your faves. It finally made it to 1,000 faves pool in October 2007!