WEBVTT - How Do Slow Lorises Work? 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.600 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:13.040 Lauren vogelbaumb Here. Slow lorises are small primates with fuzzy 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:16.640 fur round heads, a small snout in ears, and wide 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:19.440 saucer like eyes that make them look like nothing more 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.040 than toys from the Thai beanie line come to life. 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:26.759 But as with wild animals in general, you shouldn't go 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:30.360 in for a cuddle. Slow lorises are the only genus 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:35.320 of venomous primates. When threatened, they raise their arms and 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.640 licked the oils secreted from glands in their armpits, which 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.839 then mixes with their saliva and pools in grooves on 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:47.080 their specialized comb like lower front teeth. Their resulting venomous 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:51.280 bite can cause necrosis or anaphylactic shock in humans, leading 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:55.440 to a nasty wound or even death. There are nine 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.160 or so species of slow loris that all live in 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.040 the forests of South and Southeast Asia and spend most 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.160 of their lives up in the trees. They have compact 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.040 bodies with only a small stump of a tail, and 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.440 all four limbs have long fingers and toes that let 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:14.880 them grasp branches, vines, and other objects. They have dense, 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:18.080 short fur in shades ranging from brown to reddish to 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.559 tan to white, often with a distinctive pattern on their face, 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.680 with lighter cheeks and forehead markings surrounding darker fur around 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:28.679 their eyes and making their eyes appear even bigger than 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:32.319 they are. The word loris comes from a Dutch word 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:37.080 meaning clown, alluding to those facial markings. The slow part 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.920 is fairly literal. A lorius can hang still from branches 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:44.240 for long periods of time to hide from prey or predators, 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.280 a thanks in part to specialized blood vessels in their 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:51.920 wrists and ankles, though their side varies by species. They 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:54.600 tend to range from about seven to fifteen inches long 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.000 from nose to butt that's about eighteen to thirty eight centimeters, 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:00.880 and they can weigh from just nine ounces to over 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.480 four and a half pounds that's about two hundred and 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:07.840 fifty grams to over two kilos, so we're talking about 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.160 kitten sized if cats are a familiar unit of measurement 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:15.440 for you, light cats, slow Loris's eyes have what's called 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:19.240 a tapitum lucidum that is a light reflecting surface behind 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.440 the retina that helps them see better in the dark 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.440 because it gives their retina another chance to sense the light. 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.639 Humans and other Haplerini primates lack this feature, which is 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:31.960 why our eyes don't appear to shine in the dark 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:34.919 the way that cats or dog's eyes do. This is 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.360 because humans are mostly active during the day, but slow 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:42.920 lorises are mostly nocturnal. They live in the branches of 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.640 bamboo and hardwood forests, usually sleeping during the day in 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:51.200 crevices or hollows. For water, they lick dew off of leaves. 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:56.400 Loriuses are considered opportunistic hunters. They use their excellent sense 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.160 of smell to hunt for insects and other small prey, 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:04.160 making slow, deliberate movements. They'll also eat fruit, nectar, and 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.680 tree gum, which is a sugary sap that they extract 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.800 from trees using that lower jaw tooth comb that I 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:14.480 mentioned a minute ago. In their natural habitats, lorises are 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:17.480 thus an important part of the food chain. They help 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.960 control insect populations, and they spread pollen between flowers and 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:25.239 seeds through their poop, which they deposit on the forest floor, 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.079 which is pretty much the only time they spend out 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:32.000 of the trees as so to avoid predators, but they 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:36.160 do serve as prey for larger arboreal animals like snakes, eagles, 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:40.600 and orangutans. Slow Loris's venom system is thought to be 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.600 one of the most complex on Earth. It's the only 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:45.840 one we know of that has two components that the 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:49.240 animal has to mix the oil from its underarm gland 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:53.880 and its saliva, both of which are each unpleasant alone, 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:58.400 but together they're potentially deadly to invertebrates and mammals, including 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:02.040 other slow lorises. It's thought that their diet, and perhaps 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:06.240 especially those tree gums, is how they obtain these toxic compounds. 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.560 Competition amongst low lorises seems to be the primary use 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.320 of their venom, though it may also help them prevent 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:18.080 attack from parasitic insects and arachnids. For the article, this 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:20.599 episode is based on How Stuff Works check down with 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:24.320 researchers at the Duke Lemur Center at Duke University. Although 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.880 they no longer house lorises at the center, how Stuff 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.200 Works spoke via email Anna Lie, an education technician there. 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:37.039 She said, when two lorises cross paths, interactions are generally positive, 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:41.120 grooming instead of fighting. In the wild, males and females 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:43.880 will occasionally remain in the same space while their offspring 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:47.160 are young, forming small family groups until the offspring get 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:51.040 older and disperse. These groups groom each other and sleep 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.120 in contact with one another, but they frequently forage alone 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:57.160 and there doesn't seem to be a clear dominant structure 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:01.480 in the wild. That family time can last up to 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:03.920 three years of a total of a ten to twenty 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:09.800 year lifespan, but lorises seem more territorial in captivity. It's 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:13.359 difficult to find and follow loris' in their remote rainforest 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:18.080 habitats because they're endangered. Duke researchers were interested in following 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:21.800 their life history, studying questions like how long female animals 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:24.520 nurse their young and how long they live in human care. 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:29.320 Ali said learning how to care for and eventually breed 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:33.039 them successfully in human care is important for their continued survival. 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:36.120 All breeding was done at the recommendation of a species 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:40.280 survival plan, which helps avoid overbreeding and maintains healthy genetics 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.479 for all slow lorises in human care. While we no 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:46.279 longer house them ourselves, what we learned during the years 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.040 we did keep slow lorises continues to help the colony 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:54.160 in human care at other facilities Today. How stuffworks also 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:57.320 spoke by email with Lee's colleague Jody Stark, an animal 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.560 care technician who worked with the slow loss when they 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.600 were at the Duke Glamer Center. She said that they 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:07.680 exhibited distinctive personalities quote. Some are very shy or stand offish, 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.320 while others are outgoing, curious and interactive with the staff. 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.720 The biggest threats to the survival of slow lorises are 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:19.680 twofold and man made, the degradation of its habitat, and 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.680 direct human interaction such as hunting or attempting to domesticate them. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:27.880 Because of these and other threats, all species of slow 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:31.800 loris are listed somewhere from vulnerable to critically endangered by 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:36.240 the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A note here 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:40.679 that non human primates, including slow lorises, don't make good pets, 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:44.400 and trying to domesticate them isn't fair to them. Lorises 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:49.560 are meant to live with other lorises, not people. Lisaid. 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:54.120 Slow lorises rely on undisturbed rainforests to live in something 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.680 that's in short supply in our ever changing world. Some 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.680 are hunted for bush meat or use in tradition medicines, 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:04.080 while other slow lorises are kept as props for tourists 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:07.919 or sold into the international pet trade. With their distinctive 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:12.160 giant eyes and slow speed, lorises are frequent viral video stars, 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:16.520 driving up the practice of keeping them. As always, social 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.840 media doesn't tell the full story. Lorises taken from the 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.560 wild frequently have their teeth removed to prevent dangerous bites, 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.920 and their arm raising behavior seen in videos of tickling, 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:32.720 is a defensive posture used against threats like humans. I 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.080 would add here that due to the toxins and slow 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:40.000 lors saliva, humans who have handled or pet alorus have 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.400 been known to experience symptoms like numbness in their hands 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.320 and feet and even blood in their urine. Furry animals 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.640 often have heavy traces of their own saliva on their 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:54.280 fur from grooming. There are some programs working to help 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.800 slow lorises out in the wild. For example, on the 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:01.680 Indonesian island of Java, natural habitat has shrunk by as 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:05.760 much as ninety percent, so primate research groups are building 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:10.160 and installing loris bridges using irrigation tubing to connect spots 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.520 in the treetops so the lorises aren't isolated from their 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:21.520 home ranges. Today's episode is based on the article slow 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:24.680 Loris is a cuddly looking primate with a toxic bite 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:27.880 on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Patty Rasmusen. Brain 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.640 Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:33.319 dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klaang. For more 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:37.080 podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:49.480 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.