Amazing Species: Pygmy Slow Loris
© Dr Ulrike Streicher
Amazing Species: Pygmy Slow Loris The Pygmy Slow Loris, Nycticebus pygmaeus, is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. This small nocturnal primate inhabits evergreen tropical rainforests in Vietnam, eastern Cambodia, Laos and the very southern parts of China.
Geographical range
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The Pygmy Slow Loris is heavily hunted for the pet trade, food and for use in traditional medicines. They are highly valued in Cambodia, where large numbers are dried and available for sale daily in village and city markets. Such a massive off-take has led to severely depleted populations in most of their range, although current knowledge of the actual status of the species in the wild is rudimentary. Due to their low reproductive rate, the recovery of these lorises from their present decline in numbers is very slow. Hunting and capture of the Pygmy Slow Loris is illegal in Cambodia, China and Vietnam, but strict law enforcement (which unfortunately is lacking) is the key to their conservation. Lorises have been reintroduced in a number of places, but our understanding of this very specialized primate is fragmentary and few of the current releases survive.
The production of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is made possible through the IUCN Red List Partnership.
Amazing Species: Pygmy Slow Loris The Pygmy Slow Loris, Nycticebus pygmaeus, is listed as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. This small nocturnal primate inhabits evergreen tropical rainforests in Vietnam, eastern Cambodia, Laos and the very southern parts of China.
Geographical range
www.iucnredlist.org www.primate-sg.org www.fauna-flora.org Help Save Species www.arkive.org
The Pygmy Slow Loris is heavily hunted for the pet trade, food and for use in traditional medicines. They are highly valued in Cambodia, where large numbers are dried and available for sale daily in village and city markets. Such a massive off-take has led to severely depleted populations in most of their range, although current knowledge of the actual status of the species in the wild is rudimentary. Due to their low reproductive rate, the recovery of these lorises from their present decline in numbers is very slow. Hunting and capture of the Pygmy Slow Loris is illegal in Cambodia, China and Vietnam, but strict law enforcement (which unfortunately is lacking) is the key to their conservation. Lorises have been reintroduced in a number of places, but our understanding of this very specialized primate is fragmentary and few of the current releases survive.
The production of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is made possible through the IUCN Red List Partnership.
