I got to know of Nong Lito through a TV documentary-cum-quiz program which I translated into Japanese and aired here last October 14, 2007. A Japanese actress named Miki had a one-week homestay with the Pizzaras family and she assisted Nong Lito in his daily routine at the sanctuary.
One of Nong Lito's unforgettable anecdotes was how he camouflaged himself with leaves in a kaingin to find out the truth about what the tarsiers eat. According to him, even in formal literature then about the little-known
maumag, it was reported that tarsiers eat charcoal. The truth was that tarsiers frequent kaingins which have been burned about two weeks earlier because fresh sprouts of grass make these kaingins teem with grasshoppers, crickets and other insects which the tarsier feed on. People who chase them in these kaingins see them biting charcoal, but this was only a reflex reaction to fear. This wrong observation has greatly contributed to painting the tarsiers as other-worldly creatures that led to their neglect and near-extinction. Tarsiers are known to be so shy and fearful of predators that they sometimes hold their breath and die when cornered. For a man who is not formally trained in the sciences, Nong Lito impressed me as very observant and sharp.
According to him, tarsiers cannot be kept as pets at home or even in zoos because they are so delicate and live to their natural life span only in their natural habitat. He decried how the tarsiers are being kept in close contact with tourists in Loboc. A tourist guide said that they live up to 20 years in the cage. Nong Lito disputed this claim, saying that tarsiers live this long only in the natural environment.
Many of the Japanese who saw the program were as amazed by the tarsiers as by the enthusiasm and passion of Nong Lito. Such dedication and fervor for what one does is rarely seen among us who work only for a living in the urban jungle.
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Topic: The Tarsier Man (Read 3052 times)