The tarsier is one weird primate, and yes, we're related

The tarsier is a small species of primate found living in the forests of Southeast Asia. There are 16 species of tarsiers, and they occupy the dense forests of Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. And about those weird features that have gotten them those nicknames: Maybe it's the fact that they can rotate their head 180 degrees? That's a good start. But the most likely reason is their disproportionate eyeball-to-head ratio.

To Myron Shekelle, Ph.D., an instructor and research associate in the biology department at Western Washington University, tarsiers are way more than their weird mashup of features; they are a fascinating example of primate evolution. Shekelle has conducted decades of research contributing to what we know about tarsiers and primate evolution.

"When I handed in my first grant proposal, which would have been in 1993, or 1994, one of the reviewers commented, 'Shekelle has outlined a career's worth of research,' and now ... I'm just about to the point where I can publish the answer to the questions I posed in that research grant proposal all those years ago," he says.