animals

Introduction | Inside Sulawesi | Animals of the Island | Resources


	The animals featured in CASTAWAYS OF SULAWESI are some of the most unusual in the world. Here's a closer look at a few of them.

Tarsiers are the world's smallest primates.


	The world's smallest primates, tarsiers weigh only about four ounces when fully grown. They feed on insects, their hunt beginning at night. Long, powerful hind legs launch the tarsiers into the air, then talon-like claws and fingers go in for the kill. Territorial and cunning, these tiny animals advertise their presence in the forest with an echoing call. Tarsiers have large eyes for night vision and can rotate their heads 180 degrees. Three tarsier species are found only on Sulawesi: pumilus, spectrum, and dianae.


	The chicken-sized maleo, found only on Sulawesi, reproduces like no other bird: taking advantage of the hot sand produced by the island's volcanic vents, maleos dig holes in the sand, lay their eggs, and promptly leave the scene. Three months later, after incubating in the 96-degree sand, the chicks hatch. Survival of the fittest begins at birth, as the parents leave their hatchlings to make their way out of the sand alone .

Maleos congregate at the egg-burial spot.

A maleo chick emerges from the sand.

Dugong are sea creatures closely related to the manatees of Florida. Interestingly, these sea cows also have an evolutionary link to elephants. They share their ocean habitat with other marine mammals such as dolphins, porpoises, and whales in Indonesia. Dugongs reproduce slowly -- females give birth every three to five years after the age of 10 -- but have a long life span up to 70 years.

A macaque family.



	Traveling in organized groups of up to 100, crested black macaques are monkeys that spend their days foraging for fruits and insects in the forest, their nights sleeping in the treetops. As with other fruit eaters, macaques provide a valuable service to the forest by digesting seeds and pits, then spreading them along the forest floor in their droppings. This enables trees and plants dispersed throughout the region to regenerate.

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