A venomous primate with two tongues would seem safe from the pet trade, but the big-eyed, teddy-bear face of the slow loris (Nycticebus sp.) has
made them a target for illegal pet poachers throughout the animal’s
range in southeastern Asia and nearby islands. A University of Missouri
doctoral student and her colleagues recently identified three new
species of slow loris. The primates had originally been grouped with
another species. Dividing the species into four distinct classes means
the risk of extinction is greater than previously believed for the
animals but could help efforts to protect the unusual primate.
“Four separate species are harder to protect than one, since each
species needs to maintain its population numbers and have sufficient
forest habitat,” said lead author Rachel Munds, MU doctoral student in
anthropology in the College of Arts and Science. “Unfortunately, in
addition to habitat loss to deforestation, there is a booming black
market demand for the animals. They are sold as pets, used as props for
tourist photos or dismembered for use in traditional Asian medicines.”
According to Munds, slow lorises are not domesticated and are
protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species. She contends that keeping the animals as pets is cruel and that
domesticating them is not feasible.
“Even zoos have difficulty meeting their nutritional needs for
certain insects, tree gums and nectars,” said Munds. “Zoos rarely
succeed in breeding them. Nearly all the primates in the pet trade are
taken from the wild, breaking the bonds of the lorises’ complex and
poorly understood social structures. The teeth they use for their
venomous bite are then torn out. Many of them die in the squalid
conditions of pet markets. Once in the home, pet keepers don’t provide
the primates with the social, nutritional and habitat requirements they
need to live comfortably. Pet keepers also want to play with the
nocturnal animals during the day, disrupting their sleep patterns.”
The newly identified species hail from the Indonesian island of
Borneo. Munds and her colleagues observed that the original single
species contained animals with significantly different body sizes, fur
thickness, habitats and facial markings. Museum specimens, photographs
and live animals helped primatologists parse out four species from the
original one. Now instead of one animal listed as vulnerable by the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature, there may be four
endangered or threatened species. This potential change in conservation
status may serve to draw attention the plight of the primates and
increase legal protections.
“YouTube videos of lorises being tickled, holding umbrellas or eating
with forks have become wildly popular,” said Anna Nekaris, study
co-author, primatology professor at Oxford Brookes University and MU
graduate. “CNN recently promoted loris videos as ‘feel good’
entertainment. In truth, the lorises gripping forks or umbrellas were
simply desperate to hold something. The arboreal animals are adapted to
spending their lives in trees constantly clutching branches. Pet keepers
rarely provide enough climbing structures for them.”
The pet trade isn’t the only threat to loris survival. The animals
also are used in Asian traditional medicines. The methods used to
extract the medicines can be exceedingly violent, according to Nekaris,
who also is director of the slow loris advocacy organization, Little Fireface Project.
For example, in order to obtain tears of the big-eyed lorises, skewers
are inserted into the animals’ anuses and run through their bodies until
they exit the mouth. The still-living animals are then roasted over a
smoky fire and the tea
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