Little slow loris. Lemur Lori animal
The popular name of the animal lemur loris became famous in connection with the expensive acquisitions of exotic animals as domestic pets.
This mammal is considered one of the few surviving oldest animals on the planet. All representatives of the species are classified as protected objects and included in.
Features and habitat
The animal is easy to remember once you see its large eyes, surrounded by dark spots and separated by a yellowish stripe. Nature has endowed him with good night vision thanks to the reflective substance tapetum, which allows him to navigate in the dark. The eyes may have given rise to the name "Loeris", which means "clown" in Dutch.
In 1766, the French naturalist Georges Buffon called the loris a prosimian (lemur), when it was thought to be slow. Today there are three main types:
- slender loris;
- slow loris (lemur loris);
- dwarf (small) loris.
Each species is divided into several subspecies. Zoologists consider them to be a species of wet-nosed primates, mistakenly classified as.
The forests of South and Southeast Asia in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and India are home to the distribution of funny animals. The homeland is considered to be Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore.
The body of the animal, depending on the species, ranges in size from 20 to 40 cm, and weight from 0.3 to 1.6 kg. Loris are covered with short, dense and soft fur of a brownish or yellow-gray color.
Pictured is a slender loris
The abdomen is always lighter in color. A dark stripe always runs along the spine like a belt. Small head with a short muzzle. The ears are small and round. The tail is either completely absent or protrudes 1.7-2 cm and is covered with hair, so it is hardly noticeable. Lori is fat distinguished by the presence of white areas on the head.
The fore and hind limbs are approximately equal in size, equipped with grasping and tenacious hands and feet. The toes have nails, among which there are special “cosmetic” claws for grooming.
Unusual big-eyed animals live on the tops of trees, in dense crowns. Different species live in lowland forests or high mountains. They almost never descend to the ground and lead an arboreal lifestyle.
Pictured is a slow loris
Lories are often called slow for their indifference to sudden and fast movements. Sad eyes emphasize their individual expressiveness.
Character and lifestyle
Lemur loris - animal night. Activity begins in the evening, night is the time of hunting, and the animal falls asleep only after the sun rises. Bright light is contraindicated for them; they can go blind and die from the blinding rays. Twilight is a comfortable living environment.
They sleep in balls of fur in the trees, holding their feet to a branch and hiding their heads at their feet. The animal can find a convenient place to rest in a hollow or fork in the branches.
Loris move slowly, carefully, grasping the branches from below with all their paws. At the slightest danger, they freeze and can remain motionless for a long time, without moving a single leaf, until the threat from some predatory night bird passes. Animals have excellent hearing.
They are naturally curious and playful. They explore and know their territories well. The animals are very tenacious and strong for their small size; their limbs are ideally suited for climbing branches.
It is known that lorises, in addition to hunting insects and small vertebrates, remove the bark of individual trees and drink the secreted sap. In nature, they never suffer from periodontal disease. There are lorises that are individualistic, having their own areas and leading a solitary lifestyle. And some species do not tolerate loneliness and live in pairs.
In captivity, as a rule, they live in family pairs or groups (a male and several females or a parent pair and cubs). Lorises protect their territory from random incursions of their relatives.
They always stay hidden, in the thick of green branches at a height, which makes it difficult to conduct research behind them. Many conclusions were drawn from studying animals in captivity at research centers.
The voices of lorises are different: at a great distance you can hear a whistle, and up close you can hear chattering sounds with cubs. Animals have the ability to communicate in an ultrasonic range that is inaudible to humans. You can observe animals silently pushing each other with their paws.
The exchange of information may occur in parallel at another level. Sometimes a ball of fur is formed from several lorises intertwined with limbs and hanging on a tree.
This is how they communicate, play, conduct their tidbit section and determine the internal hierarchy. The seemingly harmless animal has a secret and terrible weapon. The animal's elbows contain glands containing poison, the contents of which are sucked out and mixed with saliva. The bite can be fatal. But, fortunately, such danger overtakes the loris infrequently; secret weapons are used in exceptional cases.
Eating the lemur loris
In nature, the loris' diet consists of various crickets, lizards, and their eggs. A special feature of the loris is the ability to feed on poisonous caterpillars and insects, as well as consume tree resin. Plant food also plays an important role: the loris never refuses fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowering parts of plants.
In captivity, animals are fed baby cereals with added oils, honey, fresh juices, vitamin complexes, and dried fruits. It should be noted that individual individuals have their own taste preferences and habits. In general, the diet should be rich in calcium and protein.
House lemur lory can be tamed if it receives its favorite food from the hands of its owner. Insects for feeding should be purchased from pet stores to avoid infections from random street carriers.
Reproduction and lifespan
Animals are selective in their search for a mate; individuals of different sexes cannot always form a family. Pregnancy lasts a little more than 6 months and, as a rule, 1-2 cubs are born. The babies appear covered in fur, with their eyes open. They hold tightly to the mother's belly, clinging to the fur.
The female carries the baby on herself for about 1.5-2 months. Lactation lasts approximately 4-5 months. Babies can wander from mother to father or close relative, hang on them, and then move to their mother for feeding.
Parents take care of their offspring jointly, but maternal activity is still higher. Only after a year and a half, the stronger offspring become independent and begin to start their own families.
Life expectancy is on average 12-14 years. There are examples where good care significantly increased life expectancy lemur loris.How long do they live? in captivity, depends on the absence of infections and the creation of conditions close to natural. The animals can survive up to 20-25 years.
Unfortunately, a fashion has arisen for breeding lori. Price funny animal is tall, but exotic lovers are trying to make a business out of keeping young animals for sale lemur loris. Buy an animal is possible, but without special knowledge and skills in handling the most ancient genus, it is difficult to win the trust of the big-eyed primate.
These wonderful bug-eyed creatures have recently begun to gradually push dogs and cats out of our homes. This is not bad, because the lemur Laurie a small animal that is on the verge of extinction!!! And at least in this way we can extend his life, and maybe stop extinction? Of course, you need to know about some aspects of the content, and this is what we will talk about.
Description of the lemur Lori
The size of a lemur Lori about the size of an average cat, he has huge eyes And weight up to 10 kg. Color, usually yellow, but sometimes brownish. Males are much calmer than females, and the pet itself quickly becomes attached to the owner, loves to sit on the arms and just be caressed.
How long do Lori lemurs live?
In the wild Lori lives for about 20 years, but in homes with proper care for 30 years!
Where do Lori's lemurs live?
Lemur Lori lives on the islands of Comoros and Madagascar. Lemur It looks like a living toy, and sadly, it’s a stupid, and, moreover, touchy little animal. No matter how hard you try, you will not be able to train such an animal; you will only anger the pet and get bitten. The most unpleasant thing, perhaps, is that he cannot be trained to use the litter box; he will go to the toilet anywhere! Not only that lemur nocturnal lifestyle, and its nutrition occurs at the same time.
FOOD AND MAINTENANCE OF THE LEMURA LORI
What to feed the lemur Lori
Lemur eats animal and plant foods: vegetables, fruits, bread, cereals, chicken eggs, dairy products, chicken fillet, milk worms and insects. Laurie loves sweets, and if he refuses food, add honey to it, and your pet will be much more willing to eat the food. Hand feed your pet from the very beginning so that he gradually gets used to you without feeling threatened. But under no circumstances feed from our table! The best diet for this animal is a third of everything (fruits and vegetables, cereals, insects, fermented milk products); if the diet is not prepared in this way, the loris may get sick. To ensure that you always have insects in your diet, you can freeze them in the freezer in the summer!
Keeping the lemur Lori at home
To begin with, the baby will need a spacious cage or enclosure, since it will take him a long time to get used to the new environment. You can make rods from any material, the main thing is to create natural conditions in the cage - a house, a nest, trees, branches, just don’t overdo it, free places are also necessary. Place several bowls for water and food, change the water daily.
Place the cage in a quiet place, without drafts, direct sunlight or sources of strong heat (radiators). It is also necessary to install a UV lamp; turn it on during the day for several hours.
Perform general cleaning daily, wiping everything with a damp cloth and removing waste; in addition, it is better to throw away old products so that they do not cause poisoning. Of course, over time the animal will get used to it, and you can let it out for a walk in your house, getting used to being handled, but it does not get along at all with children and other pets.
Lemur Lori interesting facts
1. Lemur Lory does not adapt well to natural conditions
2. In essence, lemur resembles a sloth
3. Laurie slow due to its massiveness
4. In captivity Laurie rarely reproduce, so the species becomes extinct
5. U Laurie several babies may be born
6. The father carries the baby on his back most of the time, not the mother.
7. Laurie mark their territory with urine
8. Laurie can eat small birds
VIDEO: LORRY LEMUR
IN THIS VIDEO YOU WILL SEE WHAT A LEMURE LORI LOOKS LIKE AND YOU WILL LEARN A LOT OF USEFUL AND INTERESTING
Few people asked themselves whether poisonous mammals exist - and this, despite the fact that there are quite a lot of such creatures among insects, reptiles and fish. There are such amazing warm-blooded animals, and a striking example of this is the small primate, which is popularly called the slow loris, and officially - Nycticebus.
They say that the poison of these prosimians is quite capable of killing not only small animals, but also humans. It is better for everyone to stay away from their sharp teeth - even if the poison does not kill, deep wounds are unlikely to heal soon.
Slow lorises live in dense tropical forests and bamboo groves in southeastern Asia and the islands of Indonesia. It belongs to the family of primates, and zoologists distinguish the following types: Bengal (the largest fat loris), slow, Javan, Kalimantan and dwarf. There is an assumption that once there was another variety, but many doubt this hypothesis, since it was put forward only on the basis of a single tooth found.
This semi-monkey itself looks very original:
- Its body length varies from 18 to 38 cm;
- Weight - no more than one and a half kilograms (for the largest species, the Bengal, it can range from one to one and a half kilograms, while for the smallest it does not reach three hundred grams);
- This animal has a small round head, inconspicuous ears and huge, saucer-like eyes, the size of which nature emphasized with black or dark brown circles. On the bridge of the nose there is a light stripe reminiscent of a clown mask (it’s interesting that the loris got its name precisely because of its funny face, since this word means “clown” in Dutch).
- Its fur is thick and soft to the touch, brownish-yellow or grayish in color, on its belly it is of a lighter tone, and a dark stripe stretches from the neck along the spine;
- The tail is short - from 1.5 to 2.5 cm;
The limbs of small primates are especially interesting. All four of its paws are almost the same length, and its fingers have nails (except for the second toes - here are the claws that it uses to comb out the fur of itself or its relatives).
The little slow loris has a very strong grip on its arms and legs, which does not weaken throughout the whole day, so they like to spend a lot of time hanging upside down and clinging to branches only with the soles of their hind legs.
These animals are quite capable of catching an insect flying near them and, holding their toes tightly, without stopping, continue to move on. And this despite the fact that they do not have well-developed thumbs on their front paws, which is why they cannot grab branches with their entire limb.
Slow lorises move by clinging to or along branches with their front paws, using all four paws. These animals do not have the ability to jump from branch to branch.
Diet
These fat, at first glance, clumsy animals set out to get food right after sunset - and literally before our eyes they turn into dexterous hunters, moving very carefully and carefully. The leaves through which they make their way barely move.
They feed on tree resin, fruits, flower nectar, bird eggs, insects and spiders. In addition, they catch invertebrates, small birds and rodents. And they love to eat it all, often hanging upside down.
Be careful - poison!
The poison of this animal is not as terrible as it seems at first glance. For example, there is a known case when a young woman, being four months pregnant, was bitten by it in the zoo - and complained only of acute pain from her teeth.
In any case, the process of this animal secreting poison is in itself very interesting and educational. The gland with poison begins to actively function in the slow loris at a rather tender age - starting from six weeks. These animals coat themselves with poison even when there is no visible danger; they constantly lick the elbow gland and wipe their heads on it.
The release of a toxic substance increases sharply if the animal is disturbed. He immediately takes a protective pose, tilts his head down, and raises his front paws towards his head, while an absolutely transparent, smelly liquid (about ten microliters), which also contains an allergen, begins to be released from the gland. He begins to vigorously rub this liquid into the head and neck, discouraging the predator from wanting to feast on it.
The slow loris also has extremely sharp teeth, which, due to its habit of constantly licking the ulnar gland, contain traces of poison.
Its bite is somewhat reminiscent of an injection, only very painful and with worse consequences. The victim quickly falls into anaphylactic shock (the so-called extreme manifestation of an allergic reaction). After a bite, its victims, in particular people, almost always come to their senses and recover.
Such a unique feature of the animal could not help but attract the attention of scientists who began to closely study this phenomenon. And they came to the conclusion that secretion from the gland may be the body’s reaction to danger and fear.
Lifestyle
These small animals spend most of their time in trees - during the day they sleep in a hollow or in dense foliage. They prefer to relax not in one place, but wherever they like - one loris can have about fifty such points. They like to relax alone, without company.
But when they wake up, they often and willingly communicate with each other. This mainly happens either during feeding, or when their individual areas overlap with each other (if only because males occupy a significantly larger territory, which constantly overlaps with the areas of several females at once). When meeting, these prosimians touch each other, sniff and comb their fur. To better understand their relatives, they use various postures and sound signals - from low grunts to clear whistles (the latter sound is made by females during the mating season).
At nine months for females, at one and a half years for males, puberty begins and they have offspring. The male learns that the female is ready to mate by the enzymes that she secretes simultaneously with her urine. The duration of pregnancy has not yet been precisely determined by science. For some – three months, for others – six months.
Loris usually give birth to one cub, with a maximum of two. Childbirth occurs on the first branch suitable for this, since these animals do not create a special place for such an event.
Children
The baby is born fully formed and almost immediately clings to the mother’s fur. During the first two weeks of life, she practically does not get off it. The father takes absolutely no part in raising his offspring.
The only exceptions are when the mother needs to go hunting, then she carefully removes the baby from her body and leaves it in a secluded place. In this case, the baby sits extremely quietly, so as not to in any way give away his location. If he has any problems or simply decides that he has spent enough time alone, he begins to chirp loudly - and then his mother, dropping everything, runs to him.
After two weeks, the baby slowly moves away from his nurse and begins to learn to move independently and look for food. He lives with his parent for quite a long time - exactly how long depends largely on the character of the animal itself. Some leave their mother as early as nine months, others at one and a half years. When the animal begins to understand that it has become old enough to live independently, it goes in search of its own site.
Enemies
These animals have almost no natural enemies as such. Mainly pythons, changeable crested eagle and orangutans. Well, and, naturally, people - firstly, due to the wholesale cutting down of trees, the habitat of the slow lorises is gradually declining. And secondly, poachers are diligently catching them. Recently, it has become extremely fashionable to keep them as pets.
Alas, when there is demand, there is also supply, and, despite the fact that the authorities of almost all countries where slow lorises live have long banned their export outside the state, smugglers have long learned to break the law.
Slow lorises are one of five genera of wild animals in the Loriaceae family, consisting of eight species, three of which have been formed quite recently. The main species include the following species: Bengal loris, slow loris, Javan loris, Kalimantan loris and dwarf or small slow loris. In 2013, the study of some individuals that previously belonged to the Kalimantan lorises allowed us to identify three more new species - N. borneanus, N. kayan and N. bancanus.
All representatives of the genus are included in the Red Book as vulnerable or endangered species. The export of slow lorises outside their native countries is prohibited by law and can result in fines and even imprisonment.
The habitat of rare animals extends from Bangladesh and Northeast India to the Philippines and from the Chinese province of Yunnan to the island of Java. They prefer tropical rainforests.
The size of slow lorises can vary depending on the species - body length ranges from 18 to 38 cm, and weight - from 300 grams to 1.5 kg. They are nocturnal animals, so nature has endowed them with large eyes with a reflective layer called tapetum, which allows them to see in the dark. The head is rounded, with a short muzzle. The eyes of all representatives of the genus are bordered by dark “glasses” and separated by a light stripe. Perhaps it is precisely because of this appearance, reminiscent of a clown mask, that scientists gave the animals the appropriate name - translated from Dutch “loeris” means “clown”. The fur of slow lorises is soft and thick, its color varies from grayish to yellow, and the hair on the abdomen is lighter. Another distinctive feature is a dark stripe running from the neck along the entire spine. The ears are small and round. The hind and forelimbs are well developed, almost equal in length. All toes of slow lorises have nails, with the exception of the second toes of the hind limbs, which are equipped with “cosmetic” claws intended for grooming.
Exotic representatives of the fauna world from Asia lead an arboreal lifestyle in their natural habitat, practically without descending to the ground. They move with the help of four limbs, moving from branch to branch or moving along them along their length. Animals are endowed with an unusually strong grip of their arms and legs, which does not weaken throughout the day. This feature is explained by the special structure of the blood vessels of the extremities, which ensures intensive blood circulation and metabolism in the muscles during the movement of the animal.
Slow lorises are nocturnal, spending most (more than 90%) of their active period alone. Sometimes they can form pairs or small unstable groups. They spend the day curled up in a fork in the branches of a tree and holding them tightly with their paws, or they are located in hollows of trees and other suitable shelters that lie at a height. One slow loris can have more than 60 favorite resting spots. With the onset of darkness, the animals become animated and go hunting. They slowly travel along vines and tree branches, clinging to them with their fingers. To mark their territory, males regularly mark its boundaries, not forgetting to update these scent marks. While searching for food, they may accidentally encounter representatives of their own species, with whom their individual areas are adjacent. During such meetings, the animals touch each other, engage in mutual grooming, or communicate with each other through various poses. However, most often they receive information about a congener they have encountered through hearing and smell.
Compared to other mammals of similar size, slow lorises have an extremely slow metabolism, resulting in a very leisurely lifestyle. Their main feature is the smooth and somewhat slow nature of their movements, which helps them quietly sneak up on prey or hide from enemies. True, when lorises are not afraid, they are able to move quite quickly - for example, walking around the territory and leaving marks.
Depending on the time of year, the animals' diet consists of varying proportions of fruits, plants, tree resin, bird eggs, nectar, insects, terrestrial mollusks and small vertebrates. Animals catch insects with one or both hands, often grabbing branches with their hind limbs for better balance. The main natural enemies of slow lorises include orangutans, pythons and changeable crested eagles.
Males reach sexual maturity at the age of 17-20 months, females at 18-24 months. Pregnancy lasts 180-190 days, after which the female gives birth to one or two cubs. Newborn lorises hold tightly to their mother’s fur for the first 14 days. Sometimes the female carefully removes the baby and places it in a hollow tree or a secluded fork in the branches, where it sits quietly and unnoticed while the mother forages for food. In case of discomfort, the cub emits a loud chirp, and the female hurries to him. It is believed that in the wild the male does not take part in raising the offspring, but in captivity they can take the cubs and carry them on themselves until they get hungry and want to return to the nurse. After 5-7 months, the baby is separated from the mother’s care, and at the age of 1-1.5 years he becomes old enough to live independently. In captivity, the life expectancy of representatives of the Loriidae family is 20-25 years.
Thick lorises are not the most talkative primates - they use sounds mainly to signal aggression, anxiety, and for communication between the cub and mother.
Despite the fact that international trade in slow lorises is prohibited and threatens to reduce their population, poachers continue to actively catch and export them for the purpose of selling them as pets. At the same time, the transportation of animals does not take place, to put it mildly, under the most favorable conditions and many of them die on the road. Mass deforestation of tropical forests, inhabited by these arboreal animals, also poses a serious danger. The World Wildlife Fund is making every effort to increase the population of slow lorises, promoting their breeding in reserves and in captivity.
Have you ever seen an alien who was mistakenly dropped on the wrong planet? If not, then you can look at the loris - an animal from South Asia. Because of their slow movements, they have long been considered sloths, but in fact they are prosimians, relatives of lemurs.
Name lemur loris translated as "clown". The touching face of this animal really looks like the makeup of a sad white clown: its large eyes are surrounded by dark circles. The round body and full legs resemble a baggy clown suit.
Laurie lives in the crowns of tall trees, where it finds shelter, food and protection from enemies, and almost never descends to the ground. They do not build any nests, and the young are born on any suitable branch. The animal is born with open eyes, covered with thick fur and immediately clings to the mother's fur. The first days she carries him on her stomach and feeds him with milk. He can also “travel”, clinging to the skin of his father or older brother, and his mother only takes him to feed him.
Lories are nocturnal animals. During the day they sleep sweetly, curled up into a ball. The feet hold the branch tightly, and the head is hidden between the “legs”. From the outside it looks like a motionless fluffy ball. To rest, they settle in a hollow, on a tree branch, or even better, in a convenient fork between the branches. And at night they go hunting (it is because of the nocturnal lifestyle that the loris has such large eyes compared to the body). U lemur loris very good hearing and in the silence of the night they can hear a subtle rustle. The animals are so careful that they move along the branches without shaking the leaves, freezing for a long time at the slightest danger.
Lorises eat small lizards, bird eggs, juicy leaves and fruits. But they will not refuse strong-smelling centipedes, poisonous insects, slow-moving beetles and fluffy caterpillars - everything that is inedible for other animals.
After which they begin to put themselves in order. Lori is very clean! They have 5 toes on their front and hind legs - just like you and me. And the ring fingers of the “toes” even have nails, which they use for cosmetic purposes to comb their fur and pick out debris. Constantly licking and cleaning itself, tidying up its fur, like a cat, is the loris's favorite pastime.
The animal is very strong for its size. It is almost impossible to tear it off the branch. Even a strong person can unclench one leg of a loris with only two hands. However, as soon as he lets go of this paw to grab the other, the first one with a swift movement grabs the branch again, and it is very difficult to tear it off.
Loris love to play with each other. The animals gently nudge each other, grab a tree branch with their hind legs and hang upside down. They stretch their paws towards each other, hug and lightly bite each other. And they can have fun like this for half an hour. If relatives are nearby, they also cannot resist such fun, and soon the entire flock becomes involved in the game.
This is interesting
Surprisingly, this primate is poisonous! Hidden on the animal's elbows are serious weapons - glands with poison. In case of danger, the loris sucks out the deadly substance and mixes it with saliva. Then the animal's bite becomes fatal. But the animal rarely uses such a serious “weapon”.