Final answer:
Tarsiers are the smallest known primates with extremely large eyes and the ability to rotate their heads nearly 360 degrees. They are exclusively carnivorous, eating mainly insects and sometimes small animals. These primates cannot produce Vitamin C, have a large brain size for their body, and do not do well in captivity due to their sensitivity to noise and stress.
Step-by-step explanation:
Physical Characteristics of Tarsiers
Tarsiers, tiny primates belonging to the family Tarsiidae, exhibit a mix of prosimian and anthropoid traits making their classification challenging for scientists. These small creatures are known as the smallest known primates with remarkable features that adapt them to their nocturnal lifestyle. One of the most distinctive physical characteristics of tarsiers is their extremely large eyes, each comparable in size to their brain, which occupy most of the space in their skulls. Due to the size of their eyes, tarsiers cannot rotate their eyeballs; instead, they have the impressive ability to rotate their heads nearly 360 degrees, much like owls.
Furthermore, tarsiers are unique among primates as they are the only ones that are exclusively carnivorous. Their diet consists primarily of flying insects and occasionally extends to small vertebrates like bats and lizards. The physical adaptability of tarsiers includes their long hind legs, which are beneficial for leaping and catching prey, in addition to expanded finger-like parts for improved grasping. Despite these specializations, tarsiers are known to be extremely sensitive to noise and stress, particularly in captivity, where they do not fare well.
Moreover, tarsiers share with other haplorrhines, including humans, the inability to synthesize their own Vitamin C, relying on their diet to meet this nutritional requirement. These primates inhabit tropical or subtropical regions and exhibit various primate characteristics like reduced reliance on the sense of smell, binocular vision for depth perception, and a relatively large brain size when compared to other mammals.