It’s a bizarre little beast that looks like a monster from the eighties movie “Gremlins.”
But it turns out the highly unusual tarsier has more in common with real humans than it does with fictional creatures.
Scientists have claimed that these tiny flesh-eating jungle gremlins are part of a branch of the tree of life which led to the evolution of monkeys, great apes and humans.
“Tarsiers are the only exclusively carnivorous primate, eating insects and small birds, rodents, and lizards,” the Washington University School of Medicine wrote in a press release.
“With eyes twice as big as their brains, a head that can rotate 180 degrees in each direction and the ability to track prey using ultrasound, the tiny animals are formidable nocturnal hunters.
“Their legs and feet are adapted for sudden, powerful leaps, with an elongated ankle bone, the tarsus, for which they are named.”
The tarsier is a type of primate, a classification which is often split into two. On one side are the “dry-nosed” beasts which include monkeys or humans, whilst on the other are “wet-nosed” animals such as lemurs.
Scientists have long argued about which side of the primate family tarsiers fit into because their teeth and jaws are more similar to “wet-nosed” primates, but their eyes and noses are closer to “dry-nosed” animals.
Now researchers have discovered evidence which finally puts them in the same dry-nose category as humans.
To perform the study, a team researched the animal’s genetic code, or genome, to help them understand how our “species diverged from one another over millions of years ago.”
Jürgen Schmit, an academic at the University of Münster in Germany, said. “The tarsier genome is a modern archive of evolutionary changes that led to humans.”
Sadly, the tarsier is under threat to its nastiest cousin: humanity.
“We think the population size is declining and not rebounding,” said Wesley Warren, PhD, an associate professor of genetics.
“Most of the decline is due to loss of habitat, but the pet trade also is contributing.
“Once captured, sadly, the result is often death due to physical and dietary needs not being met. It’s possible that some tarsier species will go extinct if we don’t change these trajectories.”