Curious Creatures Of The Philippines

From tiny tarsiers to testy tamaraws, the nation is full of unique and fantastic wildlife

- Chloe Berge

In the island forests of the western Pacific, there’s an otherworldly animal known as the Philippine tarsier.

With bat ears, suction cup–like fingers, and giant golden eyes, the creatures would be easy to mistake for extras on a sci-fi movie set. But in fact, tarsiers are primates and distant relatives of humans.

“They really look like little aliens jumping from tree to tree,” says Gab Mejia, a National Geographic Explorer and photographer based in the Philippines.

The Philippines’ 7,600-plus islands are the cradle for a mind-boggling number of diverse species. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity, five per cent of the world’s plant species live in the Philippines. And nearly half of the creatures found on these islands exist nowhere else.

“Everywhere you go in the Philippines, you’re going to be surrounded by nature,” Mejia says. “Each island you travel to will have different species.”