Tiny Primate Packs a Punch
Toxically cute hunter of gums and bugs
Pygmy slow lorises fearlessly face the night...and need your help.
BY Karyl Carmignani
Photography by Ken Bohn
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Tiny Primate Packs a Punch
Toxically cute hunter of gums and bugs
Pygmy slow lorises fearlessly face the night...and need your help.
BY Karyl Carmignani
Photography by Ken Bohn
One way for a pint-sized primate to avoid predators and competition for resources is to tuck in by day and forage for food at night. Add to that an uncanny ability to vanish into the trees by moving slowly or not at all, as well as producing venom on demand, and you have the most endangered non-lemur prosimian: the pygmy slow loris.
What little is known about the pygmy slow loris Nycticebus pygmaeus is intriguing and exceptional. It is arboreal, omnivorous, precocial, and generally solitary, with a penchant for polygyny come breeding season. But what really gives the loris a leg up on the competition is that it is the only known venomous primate, a highly unusual characteristic among mammals. The loris produces a secretion from glands on the insides of its elbows, which, when mixed with saliva in its mouth, serves to create a venomous bite. Female lorises sometimes “park” their youngsters while they feed, and they can whip up the toxic elixir and lick their little one’s fur, which deters predators.
With big, round, night-vision eyes; small dark ears; a wet nose; a fluffy russet coat with snappy white accents; and plump little gripping digits, the pygmy slow loris is likely the most adorable creature you’ll never see in the wild.
Dutch explorers of the 18th century brought back loris specimens, and it is thought that the species got its name from the Dutch word “loeris” for clown. But whether that is based on the loris’s color pattern or its behavior is debatable.
Slow and Steady Wins the…Night
Living up to its name, the pygmy slow loris is both small—reaching a mere nine inches in length—and methodically slow, ambling along branches on all fours. Its hands and feet are über dexterous. The loris is able to hang motionless, a skill facilitated by extra main-limb vascular bundles called retia mirabilia that allow blood to flow to its extremities, so the animal doesn’t experience “pins and needles” from lack of circulation. It grasps small branches with an iron grip, even as a predator tries to pry it off. During warm months, the pygmy slow loris is on the move throughout most of the night, moseying quadrupedally, stretching from one branch (or tree) to the next; it rarely comes to the ground. Slow lorises can actually move faster than other loris species, covering nearly five miles in a night! During chilly months, they may enter a state of torpor, living off their fat reserves and moving very little.
The pygmy slow loris eats different types of plant and animal matter. According to the Duke Lemur Center, fruits and gums make up more than half of the diet, and insects and small prey items make up another 30 percent. Using its acute sense of smell, a loris effectively hunts and dines in the dark. If a hapless insect goes by, the loris swiftly snatches it out of the air with both hands.
It’s not all fun and games, though, as the pygmy slow loris is preyed upon by pythons and raptors (and humans). But they don’t take threats lying down! The first line of defense is a fierce hiss and emitting a strong, don’t-eat-me odor. If it’s still under siege, the loris clasps its arms over its head—a pose that, combined with its facial markings, mimics the expanded hood of an angry spectacled cobra. Who would tamper with that? The loris can even undulate in a serpentine fashion (helped by an extra vertebra), further deceiving a potential predator.
The pygmy slow loris lives in Vietnam (east of the Mekong River), eastern Cambodia, Laos, and the Yunnan province in southwestern China; it is sympatric with the Bengal slow loris N. bengalensis. Slow lorises are difficult to detect even within their known range. They live in bamboo forest mixed with hardwood trees, forest edge habitat, and dense scrub. Their specialized dentition can gouge trees to induce the flow of gum and sap for consumption. Though surrounded by leaves, they don’t eat them, but occasionally lick them for moisture.
Lorises are killed for folk remedies in Cambodia to treat stomach problems, wounds, broken bones, and sexually transmitted diseases. There is no scientific evidence to confirm the efficacy of dried loris for any of these conditions.
Tickling Is Torture
Before you say “I want one” or even click “like” on one of the countless internet videos, know that the illegal pet trade is one of the most horrific threats to lorises—and they make terrible pets! As noted, t