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2012Nekarisknow 23 L ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR ANNA NEKARIS Heniam, velenis ismolor sumsan vendit lum num qui eu faciliq uamconum venim nisl il iniamet la a LOW RES Bite for Getty Driven to the edge of extinction by the pet trade due to their ris A survival teddy-bear looks, the Javan slow loris has a deadly bite. nek A Ann Anna Nekaris uncovers the plight of the poisonous primate. 72 May/Jun 2012 ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR ntil three years ago, many people Last year, I travelled to Java to begin a ANNA NEKARIS U would not have known what three-year study into why slow lorises have a slow loris was. A Dr Seuss venom. We already knew that they are able character, perhaps? Or maybe a cocktail? to produce it themselves, and last summer LOW RES But then a YouTube video of a pet loris found that they supplement it with toxins being tickled turned a small, obscure absorbed from their food. But why do they nocturnal primate into a global celebrity. even need venom? That clip has now been viewed millions of The venom delivery system of lorises times. If you search online for ‘slow loris’, is wholly peculiar. Their upper arms each it is one of the top results. have a brachial gland that produces thick, Since then, a series of loris videos have brown, vile-smelling oil. This gloop gone viral, attracting an army of online appears harmless but, when mixed with fans. Most aren’t conservationists, though. the loris’s saliva, it can be lethal to small At. Ut alismodip estie dolobor alit aute ex eum They just want lorises as pets. But these animals. Even humans have died from iriure volor sequam vullan exer sed tissecte cuddly creatures harbour a deadly secret. anaphylactic shock when bitten. The five known species of slow loris are the planet’s only poisonous primates, with Crosshead here be an advantage. But observing them a bite so dangerous it can kill. And there’s Venomous mammals are only slightly more hunting at night would be difficult. So I no anti-venom. common than hens with teeth. Just six headed to the Ciapus Primate Centre in When I first saw the video, I thought other species are known – the European western Java, the only sanctuary in Asia back to my many experiences of lorises in mole and water shrew, the short-tailed specialising in the care of slow lorises the field. There was the time my tough, shrew, the Cuban and Haitian solenodons rescued from the pet trade. machete-wielding Cambodian guide Mr and the duck-billed platypus. (A seventh I wanted to know if a loris bites to kill Hao was nipped by a pygmy slow loris. species, the European hedgehog, is thought instantly – and my findings were startling. The erstwhile fearless forester dropped the to possess venomous saliva.)Niat, All venim use their iliquis The Javan lorises I observed almost always killer fluffball in panic and started sucking venom to subdue prey, exceptat. Agnibh for the esequate decapitated their victims, ripping the heads modolorper susto del et the poison from his wound, blood dripping platypus, which exudes itsvolorem poison zzritfrom lor augiam,off with gusto. I wasn’t convinced venom to the ground. Maybe, I thought, if I found defensive spurs on its hind legs. is necessary for an animal that possesses out more about loris venom I could use the Since lorises tackle relatively large prey such powerful teeth and jaws. information to deter would-be pet owners. such as lizards, frogs and bats, venom could A change of tack was needed. Local people often have unique insight into the behaviour of animals on their patch, especially dangerous ones, so I decided Mr kokan told me that The loris is to ask them about loris venom. I visited the Kasipuhan, a tribe that lives within more dangerous than the leopard, and Gunung Halimun Salak National E ANNA NEKARIS Wawan Tarniwan n x2 A rniw A nt Wawan Tarniwan A w A ris x2, w A Niat, venim iliquis nek at. Agnibh esequate A Niat, venim iliquis at. Agnibh esequate modolorper susto del et Ann modolorper susto del et volorem zzrit lor Niat, venim iliquis at. Agnibh esequate modolorper susto del et volorem zzrit lor augiam, volorem zzrit lor augiam, 74 May/Jun 2012 ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR Niat, venim iliquis at. Agnibh esequate modolorper susto del et volorem zzrit lor augiam, FACTSHEET E Park, one of Java’s last remaining problem facing the staff of the Ciapus males and females. pristine forested areas. Mr Kokan, a self- Primate Centre. Many lorises taken into Conflict usually breaks out during the proclaimed ‘protector of the forest’, seemed captivity suffer from severe head wounds mating season, when numerous males – a likely source of information. But when I that, if they heal, leave terrible scars. sometimes as many as 10 – may compete asked him about the muka geni, or ‘little Ciapus vets report that a loris injured by for a single female. Rival suitors hurl each fireface’, the room fell silent. a branch or wire heals quickly, but a loris other out of trees; they bite, gouge, grapple Mr Kokan explained that the loris is bitten by another loris often develops and utter a wide variety of chittering more dangerous than the leopard – it stops festering necrosis. Could lorises perhaps, and whistling calls. The combatants are and stares, whereas the big cat runs away. like platypuses, have evolved venom for invariably left with nasty scars. It is more feared than any snake because use against their own kind? It was an there is no cure for its venom, and any intriguing hypothesis. Crosshead here grass touched by its toxic urine withers and Slow lorises have a complex system of I needed to catch some lorises to examine dies. “But there is nothing more deadly overlapping home ranges. Though the their scars and fit them with radio ANNA NEKARIS than loris blood,” Mr Kokan told me. If a norm is for an adult male and female to transmitters, but I soon discovered that dog kills a loris and brings it to the village, live together, their territory will be visited it wasn’t going to be easy. Lorises have a the corpse could poison the entire water by lower-status males, and offspring of knack of avoiding traps. I met an ex-hunter supply. various ages may also be present. Lorises called Mr Ade who described how he As I left the village my mind was vigorously defend territorial boundaries used to collect lorises to sell on the black buzzing, and I started musing about a – I’ve seen vicious same-sex fights among market. He would wake before dawn and Mr Ade had stopped catching lorises be hidden away ‘under the counter’. ANNA NEKARIS watch as the sunlight filtered through because of the suffering he could see in Unfortunately not. I found dozens of stands of bamboo, picking out the furry their faces when the middlemen ripped them, from Borneo and Sumatra as well as Mr kokan told me that The loris is more forms of sleeping lorises. He often found their teeth out with wire cutters. This Java, openly for sale. several individuals dozing together. For horrific – but, sadly, widespread – practice I even came across lorises for sale next each loris he supplied, traders paid him less prevents lorises destined for the pet trade to police cars and in front of coffee shops LAtIN NAME: /Nycticebus javanicus/ dangerous than the leopard, and that than the price of a pack of cigarettes. from delivering their toxic bite. at upmarket malls in the cities of Jakarta COMMON NAME: Javan slow loris Mr Ade took me to farmland where he and Bandung. Most of the animals were LENgtH: 27-31cm (10.6-12.2in) used to find his lorises. I didn’t understand priced at around £25 – a far cry from the WEIgHt: 750g-1.15kg (26.5-40.5oz) how he could locate them so easily. The 40p that the original captor of each poor A few more ANimAls witH AN uNexPeCteD stiNg iN tHe tAil Javan slow loris is one of the 25 most animal received for this prize. DIEt: Mostly flowers and gum; also lizards, endangered primates in the world – since I don’t yet know why lorises are frogs, bats, snails, insects and fruit. 2006 I had seen fewer than 30 of them in venomous, but I do know that if the illegal LIfE-CyCLE: Female gives birth to one or two the wild. When we arrived, I observed pet trade continues unchecked, I won’t babies after a gestation of six months. neat lines of carrots and chillies, and a sea have long to find out. My dream is that HABItAt: Originally lowland primary rainforest; of cabbages intersected by row after row of my research will help to convince people also cultivated land around villages. tea plants. Hardly prime loris habitat, you around the world that these gremlin-like IDENtIfyINg fEAtUREs: Dark eye rings, with might think. primates – all species of which are sadly a white diamond between; dark stripe down endangered – are better off in the forest back. Fur can be short or very fluffy – two Crosshead here [A version of this article first appeared in BBC Wildlife Magazine] forms considered by some to be separate But scattered through the fields were species. trees bearing fruits the lorises relish and Anna Nekaris reader in anthropology, stAtUs: Endangered. Threats include flowers that they love – though to reach G Hooded Pitohui G Centipede G Duck-Billed Platypus G Cone snail course tutor MSc in Primate Conservation deforestation and hunting for the pet and PA Native to Indonesia and Papua There are thought to be around Found in the freshwater rivers There are hundreds of species of them, the primates would need to crawl at Oxford Brookes University and Director traditional medicine trades.
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