Tarsiers are unique nocturnal primates with highly specialized dietary and behavioral needs that make captive management exceptionally challenging.
Tarsier welfare in captivity is exceptionally difficult to achieve given their extreme stress sensitivity and highly specialized requirements. Historical captive mortality rates have been very high — most tarsiers in suboptimal captive conditions die within weeks from stress-related complications. Their obligate carnivory requires live insect provision of appropriate species and size, which few facilities can sustain consistently. Handling stress is dangerous — tarsiers can die from acute cardiac stress responses during capture. The few facilities worldwide that maintain tarsiers successfully do so through exceptional expertise in their specific requirements and careful avoidance of unnecessary handling. Given these profound welfare challenges, there are serious ethical questions about whether tarsier captive keeping outside specialist research contexts is justifiable.