Tarsier

primate · Southeast Asia · big eyes · nocturnal

Enormous forward-facing eyes. Tarsiers have the biggest eyes relative to body size of any primate on Earth. Each eye is about the size of their entire brain, and they cannot move their eyes, so they rotate their head almost completely backward to see behind them.

Incredible jumping ability. These small primates can leap 40 times their own body length in a single bound. Their incredibly long, thin tail helps them balance when they jump between branches in the dark forest at night.

Nighttime hunters. Tarsiers are nocturnal, meaning they sleep during the day and hunt at night when most other animals are asleep. They eat insects, spiders, and small animals they catch in the darkness.

Island dwellers only. All living tarsiers live in Southeast Asia, found mostly in rainforests of Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia. They cannot survive anywhere else in the world, making them very special to that region.

Surprisingly small. Despite being primates like monkeys and apes, tarsiers are only about as big as a pencil when fully grown. They weigh less than a can of soda, making them one of the tiniest primates alive.