Slow Loris - Cute Slow Dangerous

Hey guys i hope last blog quite interesting to but now we are going to know a very cute but slow and very dangerous and also a rare animal Slow Loris. 

Let’s know about a animal that is different AND extraordinary:

Classification-:

Kingdom:      Animalia                                 Phylum:        Chordata

Class: Mammalia                                        Order:         Primates

Suborder:    Strepsirrhini                         Family:         Lorisidae

Subfamily:   Lorinae                                  Genus:         Nycticebus

Size of the loris depends on the species. Bornean slow loris is the smallest species; it weighs only 9 to 11 ounces. The Bengal slow loris is the largest species; it weights between 2.2 and 4.6 pounds and reaches length between 10 and 15 inches .Slow lorises are a group of several species of nocturnal strepsirrhine primates that make up the genus Nycticebus. Found in Southeast Asia and bordering areas, they range from Bangladesh and Northeast India in the west to the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines in the east, and from Yunnan province in China in the north to the island of Java in the south.

Slow lorises have a round head, a narrow snout, large eyes, and a variety of distinctive coloration patterns that are species-dependent. Their arms and legs are nearly equal in length, and their trunk is long and flexible, allowing them to twist and extend to nearby branches. 

The hands and feet of slow lorises have several adaptations that give them a pincer-like grip and enable them to grasp branches for long periods of time.

Slow lorises have a toxic bite, a trait rare among mammals and unique to lorisid primates. 

The toxin is obtained by licking a gland on their arm, and the secretion is activated by mixing with saliva. Their toxic bite is a deterrent to predators, and the toxin is also applied to the fur during grooming as a form of protection for their infants. The secretion from the arm contains a chemical related to cat allergen, but may be augmented by secondary toxins from the diet in wild individuals.

 Slow lorises move slowly and deliberately, making little or no noise, and when threatened, they stop moving and remain motionless. 

Their only documented predators—apart from humans—include snakes, changeable hawk-eagles and orangutans, although cats, civets and sun bears are suspected. Little is known about their social structure, but they are known to communicate by scent marking. Males are highly territorial. Slow lorises reproduce slowly, and the infants are initially parked on branches or carried by either parent.

 They are omnivores, eating small animals, fruit, tree gum, and other vegetation. Slow lorises have one of the slowest primate life histories; six months pregnancy for these pint-sized primates produces babies the weight of a handful of paperclips (less than 50 g). 

They can live to be 25 years old. The slow loris has a reduced second finger for gripping and one of the longest tongues of all the primates, which they use to drink nectar.Although the slow loris is a small mammal, their home ranges can be the size of 35 football pitches

The slow loris is endangered due to both habitat loss and hunting for illegal pet and traditional medicine trades. In some parts of Asia it is known as the animal which can cure 100 diseases. Slow lorises are in serious danger of extinction, with the biggest threat to survival being the illegal trade in wildlife. Having a slow loris as a pet encourages the trade and therefore pushes these extraordinary animals closer to extinction.

Each of the slow loris species that had been identified prior to 2012 are currently listed as either "Vulnerable" or "Endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on their Red List. When they were all considered a single species, imprecise population data together with their regular occurrence in Southeast Asian animal markets combined to erroneously suggest that slow lorises were common. 

This manifested as incorrect Red List assessments of ‘Least Concern’ as recently as 2000.The three newest species are yet to be evaluated by the IUCN, although each were once thought to be subpopulations of the Bornean slow loris—which was evaluated as "Vulnerable" in 2008. With this division of its range and population, the Bornean slow loris and the three new species face a higher risk of extinction than before.

Since 2007, all slow loris species have been protected from commercial international trade under Appendix I of CITES. Furthermore, local trade is illegal because every nation in which they occur naturally has laws protecting them. Despite their CITES Appendix I status and local legal protection, slow lorises are still threatened by both local and international trade due to problems with enforcement. Surveys are needed to determine existing population densities and habitat viability for all species of slow loris. Connectivity between protected areas is important for slow lorises because they are not adapted to dispersing across the ground over large distances.