Blog 2: Bengal Slow Loris

Intro 

 The Bengal slow loris is native to Asia; to be more specific it is native to the area around Bangladesh, Northeast India, down into Vietnam, and Malasia. The included map shows a detailed range of where the Bengal slow loris is found. This is a hot environment that is widely covered in lush forest and dense vegetation. The weather in the region of Asia is hot and humid, with an average temperature range of 34-23 degrees Celsius. The winters are mild and cool, and the summers are hot, but short followed by a long period of heavy rains.
Nekaris et al. 2020
Nekaris et al. 2020

Environment and Locomotion

Due to the environment consisting of dense forests the Bengal slow loris is completely arboreal. They use their highly adapted hands, grasping feet, and long limbs to grasp onto branches. They are quadrupedal, meaning they walk on all fours. “Slow loris movement is a unique type of quadrupedalism, which is very deliberate (almost reminiscent of crawling or as if the animal was climbing in any direction it is moving), changing direction or moving between supports without much noise or change in speed (review in Jouffroy 1989).” (Gron KJ. 2009) Their locomotion or the way they move, is relatively unique in comparison to that of other primates. Many other arboreal species of primates use suspensory locomotion where they cling onto branches with their hands and swing from branch to branch, other use vertical climbing and leaping or VCL locomotion where they use their powerful back legs to jump from one tree to another. The Bengal slow loris is swift among the trees, they are also very quiet which helps them avoid predation. Due to their small size, they are very easily preyed upon. 

Diet

 Bengal slow lorises are omnivorous meaning they can eat all kinds of food, and they primarily eat a diet of insects, foliage, fruit, and saps/gums. Their preferred food, like many nocturnal species, is insects. They have massive eyes which allow them to see in the dark, their night vision is so sensitive that they are able to see and grab the insects they are hunting. In the winter when there is significantly less resources the Bengal slow loris will rely on its “fallback food” or the food it will eat when the preferred insects are not available. The fallback food that is typically relied on in the winter is the excretions of trees such as saps and gums and the exudates of plants. “In winter, lorises almost exclusively fed on exudates (94.3% of winter feeding time).” (Swapna, N., Radhakrishna, S., Gupta, A. K., & Kumar, A. 2010) A primate spends greater than fifty percent of its waking time eating and searching for food. This means that the Bengal slow loris must spend most of the night hunting or searching for food. The way they obtain the exudes and gums from trees is to scrape their sharp teeth against the bark to make a divot that the tree will then try to heal by filling the hole with the saps and exudes the loris wants to eat. 


Bengal Slow Loris Eating Gum
Swapna Nelaballi



Activity and Ecology

 Like all species of loris the Bengal slow loris is a solitary animal spending a vast majority of its time alone. While they spend most of their time alone, they are not particularly territorial and have been known to be tolerant of others feeding in the same places as them and sometimes even sleep together in the same location. Bengal slow lorises do not sleep in the same location every day, as it makes them more likely to be found and preyed upon, they will rotate between different tree hollows or dense bushes and leaves in. When inside they will curl up into a small ball where their brown fur helps them blend in. With their small size and nocturnal behavior, the Bengal slow loris is most vulnerable during the daytime which makes them prey to many diurnal animals such as hawks, large snakes, and orangutans. The Bengal slow loris is an incredible primate that is very important as a prey animal in its local ecosystem, and it is important that efforts are made to keep the species alive and well.

Works Cited

Gron KJ. 2009 March 18. Primate Factsheets: Slow loris (Nycticebus) Taxonomy, Morphology, & Ecology. . Accessed 2025 March 5 Slow loris – Wisconsin National Primate Research Center – UW–Madison

Nekaris, K. A. I. (2014). Extreme primates: Ecology and evolution of Asian lorises. Evolutionary Anthropology, 23(5), 177–187. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21425

Pliosungnoen, M., Gale, G., & Savini, T. (2010). Density and microhabitat use of Bengal slow loris in primary forest and non-native plantation forest. American Journal of Primatology, 72(12), 1108–1117. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.20875

Radhakrishna, S., Datta-Roy, A., N, S., & Sinha, A. (2010). Population Survey of the Bengal Slow Loris, Nycticebus bengalensis, in Meghalaya, Northeast India. Primate Conservation, 2010(25), 105–110. https://doi.org/10.1896/052.025.0102

Swapna, N., Radhakrishna, S., Gupta, A. K., & Kumar, A. (2010). Exudativory in the Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) in Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary, Tripura, northeast India. American Journal of Primatology, 72(2), 113–121. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.20760 



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