Gray slender loris. Funny loris: appearance, behavior, varieties. Lifestyle and behavior
Slender loris - Loris tardigradus - lives in the evergreen tropical forests of India and Sri Lanka. This animal is the size of a chipmunk. Body length 15-25 cm, tail 4-7 mm, weighs 275-285 g. The fur is thick, fluffy, gray or reddish-brown with or without a contrasting stripe along the spine.
The limbs are thin, almost the same length. The second finger of the hand is reduced. The big toes and hands are widely spaced, there are no interdigital membranes.
The head of the slender loris is large and round, the muzzle is sharp but short, and the ears are large. The eyes are round and very large, close together and directed forward, separated only by a narrow white stripe, and dark circles around the eyes, which further increases their size. The fur is soft, woolly, short, gray or reddish-brown, the lower parts of the body are lighter. Sex differences in body size and coat color are small.
Slender lorises are native to the tropical rain forests of South India and Ceylon, but are also found in dry forest areas. The locals call them tevangu. During the day they sleep in tree hollows or in dense foliage, most often near forked branches. In this case, the body is curled up into a ball, the head and forelimbs are between the thighs, and the feet cling tightly to the branch, sometimes the arms wrap around the branch.
In captivity, they can be seen sleeping in limbo, clinging to the crossbar of their cage. As the sun sets, the slender lorises awaken, unfurl, stretch, clean and fluff their fur with a tooth comb and a toilet claw, then slowly set out in search of food.
In the twilight, their eyes shine brightly like coals. Their slow movement is due to the grasping ability of the limbs, with the feet playing the main role. The hand is also a good grasping organ; in grasping branches of small diameter and in grasping food, the main force belongs to the large and longest fourth fingers.
Slender lorises feed mainly on insects, small lizards and birds. The victim is grabbed by the front paws and killed with blows. In captivity, lorises do not refuse fruits and buns with milk. Found in small groups.
About six sounds they make are described, including low grunts and chirps. Of their special habits, it is interesting to note that, like many other lemurs, moving slowly along the branches, they spray their entire surface with urine, wetting their limbs with it. This habit is explained as olfactory territory marking.
They breed in April - May and November - December. Pregnancy lasts 160-170 days (according to some authors, only 108 days).
Usually one, rarely two, cubs are born. For the period 1959-1963. There was one case of a slender loris being born in captivity (London). In general, they are rarely kept in captivity due to their sensitive and hot-tempered nature. One individual loris lived in New York for over 7 years.
Classification:
Superclass Quadrupeds - Tetrapoda, Class Mammals - Mammalia
Squad Primates
Suborder Wet-nosed monkeys - Strepsirhini
Infrasquad Loriformes - Loriformes
Family Loriaceae - Lorisidae or Loridae
Genus Slender lorises - Loris tardigradus
(Loris), and the appearance of the animals matches their names. The largest is the fat Bengal loris ( Nycticebus bengalensis) - weighs more than two kilograms, and the smallest - the red slender loris - is only about 100 grams.
In India, loris are called “forest babies”, in Sumatra - “monkeys of the wind”, in Java - “moon-faced”. The "official" name for these animals, loris, comes from the old Dutch "loeris", meaning "clown". Since travelers who discovered the loris in 1770 compared it to a sloth for its leisurely movements, the adjective “slow” was assigned to the animal. To this day, representatives of the clan Nycticebus in English they are called "slow lorises".
Total to date in the subfamily Lorisinae There are 10 species. The closest relatives of the loris - potto and galago - live in Africa, while the lorises themselves are residents of Asia. For a long time, little was known about these creatures, but over the past decades, scientists have accumulated enough data to refute many of the rumors about lorises generated by traveler accounts and Aboriginal stories.
Observations of loris have shown that they are very active animals. The discoverers who compared loris to sloths described their behavior in daylight, but the loris' time comes at sunset. Thin lorises travel about a kilometer per night, thick ones - about five. The maximum recorded speed of loris movement is as much as 1.5 m/s! Lorises are designed to live in the canopy of trees - they are usually found at heights of up to 10 meters - and rarely end up on the ground. They cannot jump at all, but they climb excellently. The special structure of the spine allows the loris to make “snake-like” wave-like movements, and the mobility of the joints and the location of the thumbs at an angle to the rest allows it to grab surrounding branches. When lorises move in the treetops, they are able to stretch over an abyss, holding on to several branches at the same time. If they need to hang on a lonely branch, they feel uncomfortable and move slowly.
The loris diet consists of a variety of forest products. Slender lorises prefer insects or small vertebrates and only occasionally eat fruits and tree resin. Loris hunt, carefully observing the prey, and at the right moment they make a swift attack. Their touching large eyes help them in this: among the suborder of wet-nosed primates ( Strepsirrhines) in loris, the eye sockets are closest to each other - this allows for a large angle of stereoscopic vision.
Slow lorises, on the other hand, use their eyes mostly to search for plant food. The diet of the slow loris includes both flower nectar and fruits, but its basis is plant juice. In a few seconds, the slow loris is able to make a hole in a branch or trunk to get to the nectar, which can be enjoyed for almost an hour, tightly clinging to the trunk. To prevent anyone from feasting on the loris itself at this time, it acquired a camouflage coloration. Their tongue, the longest among primates, and the hyoid plate with denticles (see Sublingua) can penetrate tree flowers of various shapes. At the same time, neat animals not only do not harm the flowers, but also play the role of pollinators, carrying pollen on their faces.
Loris inhabit not only the tropics, but also areas with pronounced seasonality. For example, in northern Vietnam, temperatures in winter can drop to 5°C, food becomes scarcer, and it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain body temperature. Therefore, in especially difficult times, lorises prefer to hibernate. More recently, it was possible to show that the little loris ( Nycticebus pygmaeus) can fall into a multi-day (up to 62 hours, on average 43 hours) torpor, while the animal’s body temperature can drop from the usual 34°C to 11°C. Previously, the only primates that could hibernate were considered to be Madagascar lemurs.
Slow lorises are the only venomous primates. The poison is formed when the animal licks its elbow, mixing the secretions of the brachial, or brachial, gland with saliva. That is why, when there is fear and a sense of danger, the loris raises its elbows up. The mixture remains on the animal’s teeth, its bite becomes poisonous (in humans it can lead to anaphylactic shock and even death). A special structure of the teeth helps deliver the poison to its destination: the front teeth (fangs and incisors) of the loris are flattened and turned into a needle-sharp comb. Loris venom is multicomponent; its composition is species-specific and depends on the diet, which largely consists of poisonous plants. The sap of some trees that slow lorises feed on is deadly poisonous to humans, and lorises are immune to many toxins. Toxins from food can be included in the animal’s venom, thereby bringing it benefit instead of harm. The main component of loris venom is a protein from the secretoglobin family (see Secretoglobin), which are known only in mammals and are the main component of many substances secreted by them.
Galina Klink
Slender lorises are amazing animals that live in the southern parts of our planet. Lorises have unusually huge and expressive eyes, which is why they got their name. "Lori" means "clown" in French. Lory lemurs have also been known to us since the release of the cartoon “Madagascar”. One has only to remember the little lemur with huge sad eyes, and we immediately receive a large dose of tenderness.
Description of the slender loris
Slender lorises are quite small, sometimes medium in size. Their body length varies from 17 to 25 cm. The tail of the slender loris is not visible outwardly. The average weight of the animal is 340 grams. The head has a rounded shape, the front part is slightly elongated. The eyes of the loris are large and round, with a dark rim around them. The ears are medium and thin. They do not have hair on the edges. The coat of the thin loris is thick and soft, its color can vary from yellowish gray to dark brown on the back and from silver gray to dirty yellow on the abdominal part.
The average life expectancy of loris lemurs is 12 - 14 years. There have been cases in history when, in captivity and with good care, lorises could live for 20–25 years. The loris lives more often in forest areas and prefers nocturnal activity. During the daytime it hangs on trees, grasping a branch with all four paws and curling up into a ball. Lives almost exclusively in trees. When moving from one branch to another, it makes slow movements, alternately intercepting the branch with its front and hind paws.
Range, habitats
Lory lemurs live primarily in tropical and rain forests. The main habitat of these unusual animals is South India and Sri Lanka. They can also be found in dry forest areas. Gray lorises are more common in southern India or the western and eastern Ghats. It is also not uncommon to see the gray loris in the northern part of Sri Lanka. Red lorises live exclusively in the central or southwestern parts of Sri Lanka.
Also, recently, loris lemurs have become one of the animal inhabitants of home apartments. Keeping slender lorises in captivity is not difficult; this will require a special enclosure that imitates its natural habitat. The room where the loris enclosure should be located should be dry, warm and with a minimum amount of humidity, since thin lorises easily catch colds and get sick. Proper care of the loris lemur in captivity can extend the life of this exotic pet by several years.
Diet of the slender loris
In the wild, slender lorises feed primarily on insects.. These can be small arachnids, hemiptera, lepidoptera, orthoptera, or termites. That is, small spiders, tropical fleas, wood termites, etc. They can also eat a caught small lizard or bird. Slender lorises obtain carbohydrates from found tropical fruits, small foliage or seeds. Despite the availability of fruit in their habitat, the main diet of the Lemra Loris consists of insects.
When keeping thin lorises at home, you can also feed them fruits, as well as vegetables, berries, meat, boiled eggs and insects. It is worth giving food to loris in small pieces, so it will be easier for them to chew it. If you try to give a loris food that is different from its diet in its natural environment (meat, eggs, vegetables, etc.), then do it carefully and closely monitor your loris' reaction to this food. Slender lorises are gentle animals; their stomachs are not designed for food that is too heavy.
Important! Do not give mushrooms to slow lorises. They are too heavy to digest even for humans.
You should only purchase insects for domestic lorises from professional pet stores, as they supply specially grown food insects. Under no circumstances should you feed a loris a cockroach or a spider caught in the kitchen - they can be carriers of infections and cause diarrhea in the loris. The most common mistake of those who keep a loris as a pet is to feed it baked goods, pasta, dairy products and everything else that is on the table. Such a diet can cause diseases of the pet’s digestive system, as well as provoke dental problems.
Reproduction and offspring
Slender lorises are mammals and, accordingly, viviparous. The gestation period for female lorises is 6 months. Typically, female slender lorises bring 1–2 cubs in one litter, which remain with her for another year. The female carries the cubs on her stomach until they begin to move independently. Slender loris cubs feed on milk for up to 4 months. At the same time, an interesting fact: loris cubs roam from one parent to another, that is, in a pair of loris lemurs, both parents take part in raising children. Females can conceive offspring a maximum of two times per year.
In the history of captive breeding of slender lorises, only 2 cases of breeding have been recorded. Due to the timid nature of these animals, they cannot reproduce in artificially created conditions.
Natural enemies
In their natural habitat, the slender loris has no enemies as such. Their main enemy can be called a person who cuts down tropical forests, thereby depriving loris lemurs of their home and food. In addition, the fashion of keeping lorises as pets also negatively affects their health. Before being sold, they are caught in the wild, their fangs and poisonous glands are removed so that they cannot injure their owners. Interfering with the loris' natural digestive system has a negative impact on their health and overall condition.
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 loris lemur has been a related taxon for so long 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 funny animal attracts with its intricate appearance from 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 different matter. This is the same calling card of the species as 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 other taxonomic groups of the primate order.
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. The gray subspecies has a characteristic ash color, while the red subspecies 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 the bamboo and tropical forests of 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 dwarf 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 can feel like dwarfs next to such a relative, being almost half the size of the largest representative of the family.
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. Such is the 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 foods with some inclusions of protein foods. 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 of various species, especially from the Loriidae 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.
Which, together with the destruction of the habitat in its homeland, has now led to such a disastrous state of affairs for this species.
Conclusion
So, our acquaintance with such a distinctive animal took place. Finally, I would just like to once again emphasize the inadmissibility of such qualities as permissiveness and disregard for a reasonable person.
