Loris Animal Facts | World's Weirdest Animals

Tickling is Torture Pledge: https://www.ticklingistorture.org/
International Animal Rescue: https://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/slow-loris-sanctuary

Hailing from the tropics comes a unique little primate that possess the power of poison. On this episode of world's weirdest animals we bring you the loris.

Home to Sri Lanka, India and Southeast Asia the loris inhabits tropical rainforests, suburban gardens, swamps and semi-deciduous forests.

Like many of the animals in this series habitat loss and hunting have run the loris's numbers low. Having 10 species within the family of loris, the slender loris is classified as endangered and slow loris are critically endangered. The slow being the smallest species is tiny only weighing up to 11oz. The largest species being the Bengal slow loris measures about a foot long and weighs up to 4 1/2 pounds or 2 kg.

Having front facing eyes like humans, the loris has a reflective layer called tapetum lucidum which provides them with the ability to see well in the dark. Having a keen sense of smell the loris can sniff out their prey. Their omnivorous diet consists of insects, eggs, slugs, small mammals, leaves and fruit. A nocturnal motionless hunter, the loris will wait still until prey shows itself. This quadrupedal creature, or one that moves using all 4 limbs has a distinct stance with both front and rear feet being the smallest size. Having a thumb like humans and gorilla like grip strength, the loris can hang from their feet for hours while feeding. The layer of fur that covers their bodies can vary in color from brown, red, yellow, grey, silver and golden.

Living a solitary life this nocturnal creature prefers to sleep in small groups of loris which all do so in specific position, rolled up in a ball with their head between their legs.

Being the only poisonous primate the loris is able to defend itself by licking poisonous patches on its elbows than delivering a nasty bite. There is only 1 known case of a loris bite on a human that caused the person to go into anaphylactic shock and dying afterwards. The venom is similar to that of cat dander. Shown to contain up to 142 volatile components and a variant of the cat allergen protein Fel-D1 there are actually 2 types of venom delivered by the loris. First as mentioned the toxin from their elbows and another in their saliva. When mixed thiis dual composite venom becomes much more potent. Not being the quickest primate out there, this is their only way of defending themselves. Their slow movements work in their favor as they traverse throughout the the trees, they move with such finesse branch and leaf movement is hard to detect making their movement throughout the night undetectable

Reaching reproductive age around 1 year old , lorises will mate twice a year. Females give birth to 1 sometimes 2 babies which will get coated in venom when the mother searches for food. This toxic layer will protect babies from most predators except orangutans.

In the wild loris have a lifespan of up to 20 years, in captivity it can be up to 26 years. The sundra slow loris tends to be more stressed and aggressive when in captivity reducing their lifespan to just 12 years. The loris pet trade has blown up in recent years from youtube videos of people tickling them. What people don’t understand is a loris will raise their arms in fear and self defense as it is how they harness the venom from their elbow glands. These popular videos of tickling lorsis have led to smuggling of loris in airless containers that end up with many of them dead at their destination. Their teeth are cut off with no medication. Loris are nocturnal and feel pain when exposed to light, these amazing little creatures have no desire to be a human’s pet. If you want to help with the conservation of the loris I’ll leave a link to International Animal Rescue and another to their tickling is torture pledge which only takes a second to sign.

Footage:
International Animal Rescue IAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otTNxR8C4uE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kTR6wR6yPw

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World’s Weirdest Animals: Red Panda:
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Intro music thanks to Machinmasound:
Rallying the Defense:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruPk4RD19Nw

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