A venomous primate sounds like something from a storybook, yet it is real. The Bangka slow loris is a tiny night animal from Indonesia that many experts feared had vanished from its home island. Its rediscovery gives wildlife workers rare hope.
A Soft Face With a Toxic Bite
Slow lorises have huge round eyes and move through trees with careful, gentle steps. Nothing about them looks dangerous. Even so, they are among the few mammals known to science that produce venom. Researchers studying lorises in Indonesia found that the venom may help them defend territory and keep parasites away. A bite can also seriously harm a person, so these animals should never be handled.
Rediscovery on a Damaged Island
The Bangka slow loris lives only on Bangka Island. Years of logging and mining stripped away much of its forest, and for a time the animal was believed to be functionally extinct there. Then a rescued loris was cared for at a local centre run by the ALOBI Foundation and released into protected forest in 2022. One animal does not mean the species has recovered. Still, it shows that a creature written off by many may not be gone for good.
The Pet Trade Still Threatens Survival
Habitat loss is only part of the danger. Slow lorises are sold as pets because of their teddy bear faces, and sellers often cut out their teeth to stop them biting. This practice causes pain and frequently kills the animal. All slow lorises are listed under CITES Appendix I, which bans international commercial trade, yet illegal selling continues. Rescue also brings its own problem, because lorises from different islands look alike to non-experts, and releasing them in the wrong place can harm wild groups.
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