Why do loris lemurs raise their legs? When Cute Becomes Deadly - the story of a wildlife biologist who is bitten by a venomous slow loris but lives to tell the tale. Reproduction in captivity
Some might think that "slow loris" is a very appropriate nickname for a clumsy eater.
But in fact, this is the name of a species of animal belonging to one of the five species of funny creatures with large eyes that are part of the loris family. In countries where they speak English language, it is also called “slow” due to the fact that it moves very smoothly.
Latin name slow loris - Nycticebus. They live in eastern Bangladesh, northeastern India and the warm Indonesian islands in Indochina.
They are often quite unreasonably confused with lemurs. These animals are distinguished from each other by many characteristics, in particular the fact that lemurs live at a great distance from lorises - in Madagascar.
Another difference is that slow lorises, like other members of this family, lack a tail. More precisely, it exists, but this small size that it can only be detected by feeling the animal. These are small animals, whose body length can be from 18 to 38 cm, and their weight is no more than one and a half kilograms. Slow lorises are one of the few representatives of this family that survive in captivity.
But before you get yourself such a pet, you need to take into account the fact that there are five species in the genus of slow loris, and one of them, or rather the small slow loris, is poisonous. This tiny creature, only 18-20 cm in length with innocent eyes, can cause a lot of trouble. The fact is that on the elbow of this representative of the loris family there are glands that are capable of secreting a substance that, when mixed with saliva, becomes a potent poison.
Slow lorises are funny and cute monkeys. In conditions wildlife Little slow lorises use this poison to protect their young from predators. To do this, they lick the baby's fur, which after such treatment becomes poisonous. The bites of these animals are also poisonous, since the elbow glands often come into contact with saliva.
And other types of slow lorises are absolutely harmless. Active image They lead their lives at night, this explains the presence of such big eyes. Most often they live alone, sometimes in pairs or groups that are not created for a long time. As a rule, several females live in the area of one male. A female, ready for fertilization, attracts a male with her urine, in which special pheromones appear during this period.
Females bear cubs for about three months. As a result, one baby is born. Immediately after birth, the cub clings to the mother's fur and spends the next two weeks in this state. And although just a day after birth he gains the ability to cling to tree branches, he still prefers to be near his mother’s nipple.
In the wild, male loris do not take part in raising their offspring, while in captivity some caring fathers simply take the cub away from the mother and protect it themselves and carry it on themselves, giving it to the mother only to feed it.
A curious small animal - the loris. The main food products of lorises are insects, bird eggs, chicks and their small parents, various rodents, as well as nectar and fruits. They are peaceful and do not come into conflict with each other in the process of obtaining food. Most often, “neighbors” demonstrate different poses when they meet, or brush each other’s fur. For this procedure, the slow loris has special tool- the so-called “cosmetic” claw, which is located on the second toe, and on all other fingers they have ordinary nails.
The small slow loris, or, as it is also called, the pygmy loris, is a popular exotic animal, a primate from the Loriidae family. He leads a solitary lifestyle, is quite slow and unpretentious in food, and also has the cutest appearance. But is he the angel he may appear to be?
The little slow loris is the only venomous primate in the world. He stores his weapons in his elbow joints, and in case of danger he licks his paws and then bites the enemy. But, in fairness, it should be noted that domesticated pygmy lorises practically do not use their poison. Most likely, they need this adaptation only in the wild, and only when there is nowhere to go and they have to resort to desperate measures.
However, there are probably people who are capable of bringing this carefree, sweet and calm animal to the point where poison appears to him the only way protection. But that’s not about that now.
Lorik, a nocturnal animal, wakes up at 6-7 pm and stays awake until sunrise. On the one hand, this is good - while you are at work, your pet will not howl out of boredom throughout the house, thereby annoying the neighbors, but, on the other hand, it is bad - there is not much time left to communicate with the loris. The animal's nocturnal lifestyle will not affect your sleep, because lorises are quiet, slow and neat little animals.
When taking a lorik into your home, you need to clearly understand that he will not bring you slippers in the morning, will not respond to your name, follow all kinds of commands and meow cutely. But at the same time, he does not need to be taught to go to the litter box and walk every morning, and he also does not chew wires.
Some general information
The little slow loris is not a lemur, as many still mistakenly believe, but a primate from the Loriidae family. In the wild, it lives in Southeast Asia - in the forests of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
As a rule, one baby is born in a family at a time, although there are exceptions in the form of twins. As soon as it is born, the baby loris literally clings to the fur on its mother’s chest and spends there from 35 to 50 days. The father does not take part in the upbringing of his offspring.
As for the menu that the loris provides for itself in the wild, it consists mainly of fruits, flowers, nectars and insects. The lorik also loves tree resin and consumes poisonous invertebrates on holidays.
Lories, in addition to being nocturnal, also lead a solitary lifestyle. Their only entertainment is to sprinkle urine on their hands and go for a walk, leaving behind a scent that attracts the attention of their relatives.
Loria exotics at home
Live like a cat or a dog in open space Lori won't be able to. He needs a separate enclosure in which he can recreate natural conditions life of the animal - equip it with branches, a house, and maintain the necessary microclimate.
The climate is one of the reasons why it is necessary to choose an enclosure rather than a cage for the pygmy loris: if the animal accidentally gets into a draft or lives in dampness, it will quickly get sick. The main conditions for keeping loris are air humidity of 80% and air temperature of approximately 28-30 degrees.
Now about nutrition: every day in the evening you will offer the lori a fruit and vegetable salad and something from animal protein. Variety is key here. If today you gave a set of apples, bananas, carrots and grapes, then tomorrow you will cut cucumber, pear, kiwi and raspberries. If the protein used today was boiled quail eggs, then tomorrow it should be a cricket, and the day after tomorrow it should be a zoophobe. By the way, you can’t go crazy with the latter – it’s very fatty, just like flour beetle. Loris should have constant and free access to fresh water.
As for care. These animals cannot swim, and you cannot bathe them. They lick themselves like cats, and therefore fur often accumulates in their stomachs. This is not a problem: there is a special paste for dissolving hair, which is sold in almost every pet store.
If your animal gets into trouble somewhere and you can’t avoid washing it, carefully, holding it near or over a bowl of water, wash your pet. But then dry it thoroughly with a towel.
When you have the whole family gathered at home in the evening, you can let the lorik wander around the house, but do not expect that on the very first day he will go into your arms - this takes time. Try to give your pet a treat from your hand, pet it, scratch it, but never forcefully tear it away from the branches. Over time, the loris will get used to you and will ask to be held in your arms.
Nycticebus
According to 2010 data, the genus Nycticebus consists of four types:
1. Pygmy loris, ( Nycticebuspygmaeus)
2. Javan lory ( Nycticebusjavanicus)
3. Slow loris ( Nycticebuscoucang)
4. Bengal loris ( Nycticebusbengalensis)
The Javan loris was formerly considered a subspecies, but was later classified as separate species. These prosimians live in different parts South-East Asia.
Habitats of the genusNycticebushighlighted in red. IllustrationPrimateInfoNet.
Slow lorises are tree-dwelling primates that walk along branches on four legs. They are omnivores and lead night look. The main diet of the loris is plants and insects. Slow lorises sleep in daytime, curled up in a ball in the trees high above the ground. The predators that pose the main threat to their lives are pythons ( Pythonreticulatus), crested eagles ( Spizaetuscirrhatus) and orangutans ( Pongopygmaeus). The metabolism of slow lorises is slightly slower than that of mammals of the same size (Gron, 2009).
Colors and patterns of species and subspecies Nycticebus. Illustration taken from Loris Conservation website.
Different sides of toxicity
The very concept of “poisonous” can have two cardinal meanings: different meanings. (In English, the words “venomous” and “poisonous” can be used interchangeably in speech, but they do not mean the same thing at all.) So there are toxins released special body animal and become poisonous only when it enters the victim’s body, for example, through a bite ( Englishvenom). They should be distinguished from ready-made poison, which some animals initially produce using special organs. Such poison enters the victim’s body through inhalation or contact with a poisonous animal ( Englishpoison).
Blue dart frog ( Dendrobatesazureus) is an example of an individual whose mucus contains a strong poison, while spectacled snake (Najanaja) is considered poisonous due to its deadly venomous bite.
Brachial gland of the slow loris
The flexor or ventral surface of the elbow of the slow loris has a slightly protruding, barely visible knob, which is the brachial gland (Hageye et al., 2006; Kranee et al., 2003). Observations of slow lorises living in captivity have shown that when the animal is disturbed by being handled, it secretes about 10 microliters (μL) of a clear, strong-smelling liquid in the form of apocrine sweat (exudate) from the brachial gland. Usually at this moment both females and males of the slow loris take a defensive pose. They tilt their heads down and lift their front paws up, rubbing secretions from the brachial gland into their head and neck. Loris often lick the brachial gland and rub their head against it. The brachial gland of lorises begins to fully function when they reach the age of 6 weeks (Hageyetal., 2006).
The illustration shows the brachial gland (dark area) on the ventral surface of the foot of a slow loris. Drawing by Helga Schulze (Kraneetal., 2003).
Brachial gland secretion and allergenFeld 1
The brachial gland produces an allergen similar to that produced by cats (Hageye et al., 2006; Kranee et al., 2003). This brachial gland secretion is similar to that of a cat not only in sequence, but also in the structure of the heterodimeric disulfide bond. Fel D 1 allergen is found mainly in the saliva and sebaceous glands of domestic cats, Feliscatus. Cat allergy sufferers react to 5 allergens produced by domestic cats, including Fel D 1. However, the biological function of Fel D 1 is still currently unknown (Grönlund et al., 2010).
So are slow lorises actually poisonous?
To answer this question, let's remember once again the difference in the definition of the word “poisonous”. A venomous animal injects toxins into the victim's body when it bites. An animal whose body produces toxins can only be potentially poisonous if those toxins enter the victim's body through inhalation or absorption. Literary sources they say that people become victims of loris venom due to a bite, and not because the venom enters the human body through contact with the primate. So are lorises poisonous? Not really.
Slow lorises have needle-sharp teeth on lower jaw. Given the constant habit of licking the brachial gland, it is not surprising that the sharp teeth and secretions of the brachial gland are related to the poisoning of unsuspecting victims. However, this is not the main thing.
The sharp tooth comb, which can look quite menacing, serves mainly for grooming, and therefore its function is less sinister than imagined. The bite of the slow loris is so painful precisely because of the sharpness of its teeth.
Illustration of slow loris teeth taken from the websiteLorisConservation. The tooth ridge is located on the lower jaw and is shaped like a shovel.
According to Wilde's (1972) reports, victims of slow loris bites go into anaphylactic shock (an extreme allergic reaction) followed by hematuria. Despite this, they always recover. There are no clinical signs toxic substances in the saliva of slow lorises, which could support the myth that they are poisonous (Wilde, 1972).
There is a known case in which a 34-year-old woman, 19 weeks pregnant, was bitten by a pygmy loris in the zoo where she worked. She only complained about sharp pain in the place where she was bitten. No allergic reactions, much less anaphylactic shock, were noted (Kalimullah et al., 2008).
Reports of slow loris bites are not often accompanied by photographs. However, based on such reports, it can be concluded that the loris' bite is not at all poisonous (Kalimullah et al., 2008; Wilde, 1972). Due to the similarity of the loris brachial gland secretion allergen and the Feld 1 allergen of domestic cats, the anaphylactic shock described by victims of loris bites is probably nothing more than a reaction to the secretion allergen.
What is the function of the brachial gland in this case?
Hagey (2007) states that the brachial gland is used as an olfactory signal to indicate home and territory boundaries. Most nocturnal primates rely on their sense of smell, and the slow loris is no exception. Because the brachial secretion is a response to stress or danger, its function may be to deter predators, warn other lorises of danger, or both (Hagey et al., 2006).
I look forward to studying more of these prosimians and the properties of their brachial gland secretions. A much more in-depth study of the evidence from loris bites is necessary in order to clarify the effect of the secretion of the brachial gland on humans.
Are slow lorises really venomous?
Listliterature :
Gron, K.J. 2009. Primate Factsheets: Slow Loris (Nycticebus) Taxonomy, Morphology & Ecology. Prime Info Net Retrieved October 19, 2010
Grönlund, H. Saarne, T. Gafvelin, G. van Hage, M. 2010. The Major Cat Allergen, Fel d 1, in Diagnosis and Therapy. International Archives of Allergy and Immunology 151(4): 265-274.
Hagey, L.R. Fry, B.G. Fitch-Snyder, H. 2007. Talking Defensively: A Dual Use for the Brachial Gland Exudate of Slow and Pygmy Lorises. Primate Anti-Predatory Strategies 2: 253-272
Krane, S. Itagaki, Y. Nakanishi, K. Weldon, P.J. 2003. “Venom” of the slow loris: sequence similarity of prosimian skin gland protein and Fel d 1 cat allergen. Naturwissenschaften 90: 60-62.
Kalimullah, E.A. Schmidt, S.M. Schmidt, MJ. Lu, J.J. 2008. Beware the Pygmy Slow Loris? Clinical Toxicology 46(7): 602.
Wilde, H. 1972. Anaphylactic Shock Following Bite by a ‘Slow Loris’, Nycticebus coucang. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 21(5): 592-594.
Russian name- Slow or slow loris
Latin name- Nycticebus coucang
English name- Slow loris
Class- Mammals (Mammalia)
Squad- Primates
Family- Loridae
For a long time, due to their extreme slowness, lorises were considered sloths; only in 1766, the French naturalist Buffon established that they were actually prosimians.
Status of the species in nature
The species is on the verge of extinction, included in the International Red Book - IUCN (VU), in the Convention on international trade species wild fauna and flora - CITES I.Species and man
Humans are destroying the habitats of slow lorises and using the animals themselves as food.
In their homeland, India, lorises became victims of human superstition. Their extraordinary eyes are considered remedies for eye diseases and the evil eye; they are credited with the ability to cast a love spell, and animals are hunted for their eyes. In some places these prosimians are used for food. A large number of Lorises are caught by poachers for sale to exotic animal lovers, since there is a high demand for them in many countries. Most of captured animals die in the first weeks due to improper care. But still, one of the main reasons for the decline in the number of loris in nature is the destruction tropical forests which are their home.
Distribution and habitats
Slow loris lives in South-East Asia more precisely, from East India to Vietnam, the Malay Peninsula, Western Indonesia and the Philippines. Preferred habitats are rain forest at altitudes up to 1300 m above sea level. These animals do not leave the trees: they feed and sleep high above the ground.
Appearance and morphological features
Small animal: body length 26-38 cm, tail - 1.5-2.5 cm; weight 23-60 grams. Males are almost indistinguishable from females in appearance. The loris has a rounded head with a greatly shortened muzzle and huge eyes that can see in almost complete darkness. The coat is thick and soft, yellow-brown or grayish in color, lighter on the belly. A dark stripe stretches from the head along the back along the spine.
All four limbs approximately equal length. The toe pads are widened, all the toes are equipped with nails, with the exception of the second toe, which has a “cosmetic” claw, which is used for combing out fur. The animals move on four limbs, clinging to branches or moving along them. Lorises are capable of catching an insect in flight with their hand and holding it tightly in their leg and continuing to move further along the branch.
An interesting adaptation for life at high altitude is the unusually strong grip of the hands and feet. In loris special structure hands and feet - the second finger is shortened, and the first one extends at an angle of almost 180° and provides a powerful grip. Animals are able to move along branches in any direction and can hang for a long time, holding on with one or two legs. This becomes possible thanks to powerful muscles, and the special location and number of blood vessels in the wrists and ankles. This vascular system is known as the “miraculous network.” It provides the muscles of the limbs with an abundant flow of oxygenated blood and quickly removes metabolic products.
There are many glands on the body of the loris, the secretion of which is used for marking.
Lorises have an unusually strong grip on their arms and legs.
Lorises have an unusually strong grip on their arms and legs.
Lorises have an unusually strong grip on their arms and legs.
Diet and feeding behavior
All lorises consume a lot of animal protein in the form of invertebrates, bird eggs, small birds, bats and rodents (40%). The rest of the food consists of plant components: fruits (50%), tree resin(gum), flower nectar (10%).
Lorises have a remarkable dietary feature - they eat unpalatable or poisonous invertebrates. Using their remarkable sense of smell and equally remarkable hearing, these animals find slow-moving caterpillars covered with irritating hairs and even poisonous centipedes. Resin fruit trees, which lorises scrape from branches with their lower teeth, also contains many toxins. The fact is that the loris has a slow metabolism, its speed is 40 times lower than could be expected based on the size of the animal. Thanks to this, there is time to neutralize toxic substances in the intestines so that they are not absorbed into the blood.
Lifestyle and social behavior
Lories are active at night, they move and hunt alone. They move, slowly rearranging their limbs, as if “flowing” along the branches, freezing for a long time at the slightest sign of danger. This makes them invisible to enemies and potential prey. However, during the hunt, they are capable of a rapid attack, rushing forward and grabbing the prey with their hands.
Lorises can be classified as those animals that forage alone, but live in socially isolated communities. They lead a solitary lifestyle, sleeping in nests during the day, but at night during feeding they often meet with representatives of their own species, with whom their individual areas overlap. In such cases, animals touch each other, engaging in mutual grooming, or communicate with each other using postures. But most often they receive information about each other through smell and hearing. There are many glandular cells on the skin of the loris - under the chin, with inside hands near the elbow, on the chest, near the genitals. The secretion of these glands, together with the smell of excrement, serves to mark the territory, oneself and members of the opposite sex.
Vocalization
Vocalizations are used primarily for mother-infant communication and for signaling alarm and aggression.
Reproduction, development and parenthood
behavior
Loris have a fairly long pregnancy - about 190 days. 1-2 cubs are born, which the female carries on herself from the moment of their birth. The newborn cub immediately firmly grasps the mother’s fur and does not leave it for up to 14 days. The first days it is closer to the nipple, and then moves throughout her body. Sometimes the female carefully removes the baby from herself and places it in a secluded fork in the branches or in a hollow tree while she goes off to feed. While the mother walks around getting food, the cub sits very quietly and unnoticed. When the cub is uncomfortable, it makes a very loud chirp, and the mother rushes to it.
It is believed that males do not take part in raising the cubs. However, when kept in captivity, the male (this depends on his individual character) sometimes takes over the cub and carries it, but as soon as the child gets hungry, the father approaches the female and the cub goes to her.
When the baby turns 1-1.5 years old, he becomes old enough to drive independent life, leaves the territory of the parents and occupies its own area. Sexual maturity in females occurs at 17-21 months, in males at 17-20 months.
Lifespan
In captivity, with proper maintenance and feeding (which is not at all easy to organize), lorises can live up to 25-26 years.
The Story of Life at the Zoo
Slow lorises have lived in the Moscow Zoo since 1980 and successfully reproduce.
The diet includes fruits (bananas, grapes, papaya, apples, kiwi, pears, peaches), Baby Dad cereal, boiled chicken, cottage cheese, quail eggs and live insects.
You can see slow lorises in the “Night World” of the “Monkeys” pavilion on the New Territory of the zoo.
Research work with this species at the Moscow Zoo
Meshik v. A. 1996 “Mutual behavioral adaptation of partners in dyads in two species of Prosimians.” International Journal of Comparative Psychology, vol9, No 4, pp 159-172
It is probably the most exotic pet of all possible in domestic apartments. This extraordinary creature captivates with its bizarre appearance, because any lover of domestic animals will be happy to hold such a soft fluffy ball with large expressive eyes.
However, few people think that living creatures are different, and keeping such an exotic animal as a lemur requires serious preparation. Today we will analyze Loriids as a taxon, understand their habits, character, and also go through the varieties.
In fact, to be very precise, the loris is not quite a lemur. These animals belong to the suborder of wet-nosed primates, and the Loriidae family itself has for some time now been included in a separate infraorder of Lorisiformes, on an equal footing in the world taxonomy with Lemuriformes. Here is a clarification for lovers of scientific accuracy.
However, the lemur loris is so for a long time belonged to a related taxon, that we will no longer focus our attention on this detail, and will sometimes call this primate in the old fashioned way a lemur. That's what we agreed on.
Habitat
is a pronounced endemic of its habitat.
The native home of this animal is the tropical forests of Southeast Asia; they live mainly in the countries of the Indochinese Peninsula, and some species can also live in India and on the island. Sri Lanka.
Most of the world population of these animals lives in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, and Cambodia.
Appearance
Well, there's a lot to talk about here. This ex-lemur is a real star of television screens, not to mention the attention that this intricate appearance attracts funny animal among a public unaccustomed to such exoticism.
This animal resembles a cross between a monkey, a sloth and a tarsier. Many people mistakenly believe that the loris is a prosimian. Other “experts” believe that lorises, as well as indris, tupai, tarsiers, arms and galagos are all representatives of the same family.
Yes, everyone except the tupaya is primate. However, they all have significant differences from each other, both external and behavioral. Although galagos are indeed extremely close to this animal in anatomy, as well as appearance. However, we digress.
So what does this little big-eyed primate look like? This is a small animal whose weight, as a rule, ranges from 250 g to 1.5 kg. depending on the variety. The colors of different types of these animals may also differ. But we will still give a generalized description.
This primate usually has a brownish-red coat color. It has very tenacious limbs adapted for climbing trees. The animal is helped in this by thin fingers, which are equipped with sharp claws. But there was no luck with the loris tail.
On the head of the animal there is a pair of small ears and a pair of very large eyes. The eyes of a loris are a separate matter. This one is the same business card looks like the spectacled pattern of a cobra or the luxurious tail of a peacock.
The eyes of this primate are really very large, round, like 2 saucers. Moreover, there is a dark edging around them, forming glasses. This gives the animal a pitiful appearance, perhaps stimulating the desire to have such a charmer at home as a pet among lovers of cute exotics.
Well, the description of this little primate would be incomplete if we forgot to mention its very sharp teeth. This ex-lemur has needle-sharp teeth, which he uses when asserting his rights to territory or a female.
Varieties
The Loriidae family is not as diverse as others taxonomic groups order of primates.
Today there are only 3 main types of Loriaceae, namely:
- Slender lorises.
- Slow loris.
- Small slow lorises.
The slender loris is the smallest of all. The length of its body is 16-22 cm, the tail is 5 cm, and its weight is only 250-300 g. This animal is no larger than a squirrel in size, but it is the same primate as its larger relatives. However, it is not smaller in size than other Loriids, this is a fact.
The habitat of these big-eyed babies is the evergreen tropical forests of India, as well as about. Sri Lanka.
This species has several subspecies. Namely, there are gray and red slender lorises. Gray subspecies has a characteristic ash color, while red differs from other varieties in its reddish-beige color.
The small slow loris, or slow loris, as it is also called, will be larger in size than the slender loris. Their body length ranges from 18-25 cm, and their weight can reach 700 g.
This primate lives in bamboo and tropical forests Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. This slow loris leads the same nocturnal lifestyle as its other brothers. The small loris is beige in color over most of its body with a rufous rump. Otherwise, this pygmy loris differs little in general external features from other varieties.
The great slow loris is a real giant next to its fellow taxon. These big-eyed animals can reach 20-36 cm in length without a tail, and the weight of some individuals can be 1.2-1.5 kg.
The slow loris and, especially, the red slender loris next to such a relative can feel like dwarfs, inferior in size to themselves to a major representative family almost doubled.
Such animals live in almost all countries of the Indochina Peninsula, as well as in Bangladesh, India and even in the western part of the Philippine Island.
If we do not say a bad word about other animals of this taxon regarding their behavior, then such a “monkey” can pose a danger to humans. When irritated, this primate uses its sharp teeth, which, moreover, are equipped with a kind of poison. Like this poisonous loris, as it turns out.
This poisonous species has several subspecies. We will focus on just one. The Javan slow loris is notable because it is on the verge of extinction, including due to the capture of these animals for the purpose of selling them as pets.
Lifestyle and behavior
Now let's talk about the character traits of these animals, and also get acquainted with their way of life in the wild.
All species and subspecies of this family, be it the Javan loris or the red slender loris, are endemic to the evergreen tropical forests of South and East Asia, as we have already said.
They prefer to live at heights, among the treetops. These primates practically do not descend to the ground at all. These are exclusively arboreal creatures, well adapted to the habitat that nature has assigned them.
In some ways, these animals resemble sloths. They are also slow and unhurried, never in a hurry.
To move along branches and tree trunks, these animals are equipped with very strong limbs, as well as tenacious toes. The owners of these animals know very well that removing a loris that has grabbed onto something is the most difficult task.
They are also exclusively nocturnal and twilight creatures, whose eyes are perfectly adapted for night vision and are not at all designed for daytime vigil.
In the light of day, as soon as it dawns, these animals hide in the dense foliage among the branches and go to bed. An excellent night light for these high-altitude climbers are hollow trees or abandoned bird nests, where it is quite possible to find a sleeping animal curled up.
With the onset of dusk, the animal wakes up, washes itself, and behaves actively, as they say. Further, when night darkness reigns over the forest, the animal goes in search of food.
The diet of this primate includes plant food with some protein food thrown in. Regardless of the species, be it a large Javan loris or a smaller red slender loris, this animal happily eats all kinds of fruits, but does not disdain to feast on bird eggs, and can catch and eat a small lizard or even a bird.
This lemur's diet also includes insects, including poisonous caterpillars and beetles, as well as the resin of some trees.
Lemur loris at home
A domestic lemur is nonsense for a naturalist, but quite normal for a simple lover of glamorous exoticism. Let's say it right away and directly.
Despite the fact that primates different types, especially from the Loriaceae family, are often bought and kept at home; such a purchase cannot be called otherwise than inappropriate. Not to mention the moral component of the issue.
Of the hundreds of lovers, only a few have all the necessary knowledge of how to properly care for such a pet, and what the consequences of improper maintenance and handling of the toothy primate are for both the owner and the animal itself.
We have already mentioned more than once such a species as the Javan loris. This is not just one of the large varieties of its taxon, but a species officially classified by the world conservation community as an endangered animal species.
This endemic inhabitant of the island. Java has been subjected to barbaric human persecution for many years. After all, it was the Javan loris that for a long time was the same loris in a cage, imprisoned in captivity due to its attractive and funny appearance.
What, together with the destruction of the habitat in his homeland, has now led to this plight cases of this type.