Help save the loris from the illegal pet trade.
Please if you’ve got a moment to spare, check out the link below:
Just watched Natural World : Jungle Gremlins of Java on BBC2, a programme about the slow loris. I’ve loved slender lorises for years, I can’t even remember how I first discovered them, I just remember it was before one in particular became in internet superstar.
They belong to a group of animals which monkeys evolved from and are closely related to bushbabies and lemurs. They also have one feature completely unique in primates: they’re venomous. I remember a bunch of friends refusing to believe me when I told them how slow lorises produce poison from their elbows and lick it into their mouths where it mixes with their saliva for use.
Natural World followed Dr Anna Nekaris as she studied Lorises on the Indonesian island of Java, investigating their venom, their habits in the wild and human impact on loris populations. Towards the end of the show she visited a black market trading in endangered animals and found more than two dozen slow lorises for sale, some being treated awfully.
The loris superstar I mentionned, a privately owned slow loris called Sonia, has had everyone wondering where they can buy one as a pet and has had a disturbing impact on wild loris populations as they’re captured and sold. Seeing how they’re treated was heart-breaking and like so many other primates they live in habitat that’s fast disappearing due to human development of land for living space and farming.
I know is hypocritical to be more concerned for cute animals than others but I just couldn’t stand to see the slow loris - an amazing and unique creature - go extict.
The Natural World Website, complete with link to the loris episode on BBC iPlayer.
The Little Fire Face Project, Anna Nekaris’ work to save the slow loris.
Saw this last night. Absolutely heartbreaking.
