Pygmy Slow Loris

I went out to the Lincoln Park Zoo today because it's the first nice day we've had in Chicago all year. I stopped by to pay a visit to my favorite critters, the pygmy slow loris of Vietnam. They have almost no information posted about them at the zoo, and the curators holding the brown sand boa had already proved to be unhelpful, so I swore to myself that I would come home and do some research on the loris. So here it is:

The Pygmy Slow Loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus) is a rare species of loris found in the tropical dry forests of Vietnam, Laos, China, and parts of Cambodia. About 72,000 of the creatures live in the wild, and 183 are in captivity.[2]

This primate is a nocturnal animal and will eat fruit, insects, small mammals, slugs and snails. It can catch prey by licking a toxin that is released from the inside of its elbows and delivering the toxin via its teeth.

It is arboreal, crawling on branches, unnoticed as it quietly moves through the thick leaves of the subtropics. It lives together in small groups usually with 1-2 offspring.

Adults can grow to around 18-21cm long[3] and have virtually no tail. They weigh about 1 pound (450 grams)

It mates once every 12-18 months and will have 1-2 offspring after an average gestation period of 190 days. For the first few days, the young loris clings to belly of its mother. After 9 months the baby will be weaned and at that point the females will be at sexual maturity while the male reaches maturity between 17 to 20 months.

This loris was nearly wiped out during extensive burning, clearing and defoliating of forests in Vietnam during the Vietnam war.

So now I'll have something to talk with them about next time I go to the zoo.

from Wikipedia