SLOW BUT SURE

The Javan slow loris has suffered a huge population decline in recent years. But conservation efforts are turning the tide for this fascinating animal.

- DANIEL ALLEN

THE JAVAN SLOW LORIS IS NOT, AS ITS name suggests, the speediest creature in the animal kingdom. These melon-sized mammals move at an average speed of around one mile an hour, while they can perch motionless on a branch for an entire morning or afternoon. Researchers believe they may even slip into torpor – a kind of hibernation – when it gets chilly.

Sadly, the recent decline in the Javan slow loris population has been anything but sluggish. With numbers plummeting by at least 80 per cent over the past three decades, the Javan slow loris is now one of the world’s 25 most endangered primates. In Indonesia - which is home to the Javan slow loris and five other slow loris species - these omnivores are now in serious danger of extinction.

“With their doe-eyed, button-nosed faces and cuddly appearance, the Javan slow loris and other loris species are outwardly endearing,” says Nur Purba Priambada, a wildlife veterinarian and animal management supervisor working for NGO Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia (YIARI). “Sadly, their very cuteness has been a major factor in their decline, because people want to keep them as pets. Efforts to address the illegal trade in slow lorises, which are critical to their conservation, are hopefully bearing fruit just in time.”

THE MOST CAPTIVATING SLOW loris feature is their brown saucer eyes – an adaptation that facilitates their nocturnal lifestyle. The Javan slow loris, which is endemic to the Indonesian island of Java, spends most of the day asleep, venturing out at night to mostly feed on tree gums and saps. Like all slow lorises, it is an arboreal species, found in primary and secondary forests, bamboo and mangrove forests, and even commercial plantations. It uses vines and lianas to move from tree to tree, using slow, careful movements, rather than swinging and leaping like other primates.