Fat lorry. Funny loris: appearance, behavior, varieties. Food, home and domestication

Small slow loris, or, as it is also called, the pygmy loris, is a popular exotic animal, a primate from the Loriaceae family. He leads a solitary lifestyle, is quite slow and unpretentious in food, and also has the cutest appearance. But is he the angel he may appear to be?

The little slow loris is the only venomous primate in the world. He stores his weapons in his elbow joints, and in case of danger, he licks his paws and then bites the enemy. But, in fairness, it should be noted that domesticated pygmy lorises practically do not use their poison. Most likely, they need this adaptation only in the wild, and only when there is nowhere to go and they have to resort to desperate measures.

However, there are probably people who are capable of bringing this carefree, sweet and calm animal to the point where poison appears to him the only way protection. But that’s not about that now.

Lorik, a nocturnal animal, wakes up at 6-7 pm and stays awake until sunrise. On the one hand, this is good - while you are at work, your pet will not howl out of boredom throughout the house, thereby annoying the neighbors, but, on the other hand, it is bad - there is not much time left to communicate with the loris. The animal's nocturnal lifestyle will not affect your sleep, because lorises are quiet, slow and neat little animals.

When taking a lorik into your home, you need to clearly understand that he will not bring you slippers in the morning, will not respond to your name, follow all kinds of commands and meow cutely. But at the same time, he does not need to be taught to go to the litter box and walk every morning, and he also does not chew wires.

Some general information

The little slow loris is not a lemur, as many still mistakenly believe, but a primate from the Loriidae family. In the wild, it lives in Southeast Asia - in the forests of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

As a rule, one baby is born in a family at a time, although there are exceptions in the form of twins. As soon as it is born, the baby loris literally clings to the fur on its mother’s chest and spends there from 35 to 50 days. The father does not take part in the upbringing of his offspring.

As for the menu that the loris provides for itself in the wild, it consists mainly of fruits, flowers, nectars and insects. The lorik also loves tree resin and consumes poisonous invertebrates on holidays.

Lories, in addition to being nocturnal, also lead a solitary lifestyle. Their only entertainment is to sprinkle urine on their hands and go for a walk, leaving behind a scent that attracts the attention of their relatives.

Loria exotics at home

Live like a cat or a dog in open space Lori won't be able to. He needs a separate enclosure in which he can recreate natural conditions life of the animal - equip it with branches, a house, and maintain the necessary microclimate.

The climate is one of the reasons why it is necessary to choose an enclosure rather than a cage for the pygmy loris: if the animal accidentally gets into a draft or lives in dampness, it will quickly get sick. The main conditions for keeping loris are air humidity of 80% and air temperature of approximately 28-30 degrees.

Now about nutrition: every day in the evening you will offer the lori a fruit and vegetable salad and something from animal protein. Variety is key here. If today you gave a set of apples, bananas, carrots and grapes, then tomorrow you will cut cucumber, pear, kiwi and raspberries. If the protein used today was boiled quail eggs, then tomorrow it should be a cricket, and the day after tomorrow it should be a zoophobe. By the way, you can’t go crazy with the latter – it’s very fatty, just like flour beetle. Loris should have constant and free access to fresh water.

As for care. These animals cannot swim, and you cannot bathe them. They lick themselves like cats, and therefore fur often accumulates in their stomachs. This is not a problem: there is a special paste for dissolving hair, which is sold in almost every pet store.

If your animal gets into trouble somewhere and you can’t help but wash it, carefully, holding it near or over a bowl of water, wash your pet. But then dry it thoroughly with a towel.

When you have the whole family gathered at home in the evening, you can let the lorik wander around the house, but do not expect that on the very first day he will go into your arms - this takes time. Try to give your pet a treat from your hand, pet it, scratch it, but never forcefully tear it away from the branches. Over time, the loris will get used to you and will ask to be held in your arms.

Some might think that "slow loris" is a very appropriate nickname for a clumsy eater.

But in fact, this is the name of a species of animal belonging to one of the five species of funny creatures with large eyes that are part of the loris family. In countries where they speak English, it is also called “slow” due to the fact that it moves very smoothly.

The Latin name for slow lorises is Nycticebus. They live in eastern Bangladesh, northeastern India and the warm Indonesian islands in Indochina.

They are often quite unreasonably confused with lemurs. These animals are distinguished from each other by many characteristics, in particular the fact that lemurs live on long distance from loris - in Madagascar.

Another difference is that slow lorises, like other members of this family, lack a tail. More precisely, it is there, but of such a small size that it can only be detected by feeling the animal. These are small animals, whose body length can be from 18 to 38 cm, and their weight is no more than one and a half kilograms. Slow lorises are one of the few representatives of this family that survive in captivity.

But before you get yourself such a pet, you need to take into account the fact that there are five species in the genus of slow loris, and one of them, or rather the small slow loris, is poisonous. This tiny creature, only 18-20 cm in length with innocent eyes, can cause a lot of trouble. The fact is that on the elbow of this representative of the loris family there are glands that are capable of secreting a substance that, when mixed with saliva, becomes a potent poison.

Slow lorises are funny and cute monkeys.

In conditions wildlife Little slow lorises use this poison to protect their young from predators. To do this, they lick the baby's fur, which after such treatment becomes poisonous. The bites of these animals are also poisonous, since the elbow glands often come into contact with saliva.

And other types of slow lorises are absolutely harmless. They lead an active lifestyle at night, which explains the presence of such large eyes. Most often they live alone, sometimes in pairs or groups that are not created on long time. As a rule, several females live in the area of ​​one male. A female, ready for fertilization, attracts a male with her urine, in which special pheromones appear during this period.

Females bear cubs for about three months. As a result, one baby is born. Immediately after birth, the cub clings to the mother's fur and spends the next two weeks in this state. And although just a day after birth he gains the ability to cling to tree branches, he still prefers to be near his mother’s nipple.

In the wild, male loris do not take part in raising their offspring, while in captivity some caring fathers simply take the cub away from the mother and protect it themselves and carry it on themselves, giving it to the mother only to feed it.

A curious small animal - the loris.

The main food products of lorises are insects, bird eggs, chicks and their small parents, various rodents, as well as nectar and fruits. They are peaceful and do not come into conflict with each other in the process of obtaining food. Most often, “neighbors” demonstrate different poses when they meet, or brush each other’s fur. For this procedure, the thick loris has a special tool - the so-called “cosmetic” claw, which is located on the second toe, and on all other fingers they have ordinary nails.

Nocturnal animals, loris, representatives of the Loriidae family, live in tropical forests Central Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Their distinguishing feature- huge eyes directed forward. Their tails are short or absent altogether. Typically, lorises reach a length of 17 to 40 cm, and the weight varies depending on the species between 0.3 and 2 kg. Lorises are active primarily at night. They are characterized by slow and careful movements, and never jump. With their strong paws, Loriids cling to branches and even by force it is very difficult to unhook them from them. Most Loriids live alone or in small genus groups. Lorises can live up to 20 years.

Lories feed mainly on insects, bird eggs and small vertebrates. In addition, they can eat fruit or tree sap. Main threat the existence of Loriids consists in the gradual destruction of their habitat, that is, tropical forests. The Loriaceae family is divided into four genera, which contain from eight to ten species, depending on your point of view. Some of the genera are: slender, fat, small, common, slow loris and potto.

Slender lorises are small graceful animals with a body weight of 85-348 grams and a head and body length of about 26 cm; there is no tail. The limbs are thin, slender, the forelimbs are only slightly shorter than the hind limbs. The eyes are round and very large, close together and directed forward, separated only by a narrow white stripe, and dark circles around the eyes, which further increases their size.

Slender lorises are native to the tropical rain forests of South India and Ceylon, but are also found in dry forest areas. Locals they are called tevangu. During the day they sleep in tree hollows or in dense foliage, most often near forked branches. In this case, the body is curled up into a ball, the head and forelimbs are between the thighs, and the feet cling tightly to the branch, sometimes the arms wrap around the branch. In captivity, they can be seen sleeping in limbo, clinging to the crossbar of their cage.

As the sun sets, the slender lorises awaken, unfurl, stretch, clean and fluff their fur with a tooth comb and a toilet claw, then slowly set out in search of food. In the twilight, their eyes shine brightly like coals. Their slow movement is due to the grasping ability of the limbs, with the feet playing the main role. The hand is also a good grasping organ; in grasping branches of small diameter and in grasping food, the main force belongs to the large and longest fourth fingers.

About six sounds they make are described, including low grunts and chirps. Of their special habits, it is interesting to note that, like many other lemurs, moving slowly along the branches, they spray their entire surface with urine, wetting their limbs with it. This habit is explained as olfactory territory marking.

The fat loris is quite similar to the slender loris, although they differ more large sizes and a dense build. Their food consists of insects, leaves, fruits, seeds, birds and their eggs, and lizards. In captivity they eat a lot of fruit and some meat. Fat lorises live alone or in pairs and small families. Several types of their voice are known - low grunt, high-pitched chirping, high clear whistle, especially in females during breeding. In captivity they are silent and sad.

The little loris differs little from the great slow loris. Mainly by size: its weight ranges from 400 to 800 g, while the great loris weighs around 1 kg. However, a lot can be said about him too interesting facts. On the Internet, on one of the forums dedicated to animals, we found the diary of one married couple from the Moscow region, who acquired a pair of small slow lorises. This essay is huge - more than a hundred pages! Being loving owners, the husband and wife learned all the intricacies of keeping, communicating and feeding slow lorises in their own practice, constantly improved the living and feeding conditions of their charges, and helped shed light on hitherto unknown facts about the life of these wonderful pets.

First, a male was taken into the house. Almost from the very first days he showed himself to be a nimble, intelligent, affectionate and sociable animal; fell in love very quickly human hands and loved to sit on his palms cupped, eating his favorite delicacy - grapes. Constantly observing his grace, habits and funny poses, these people found out why the loris is called “fat”. Firstly, of course, for their touching toy “plushness”. Secondly, the loris has a dense, spherical tummy, like that of an avid beer drinker - it is very pronounced and is especially visible at the moment when the loris sits almost like a person, leaning on its hind limbs.

After 10 days, a female was taken - a mate for the growing male. The boy could not accept the girl for a long time, but not at all because of his youth, inexperience or a sense of territoriality. He was really “jealous” of his newly made companion towards the owners! As soon as one of the spouses picked up the female and caressed her, the male immediately began to worry, scream and snap, but several days passed and peace reigned in the loris family.

To observe the mysterious life of their pets, the couple purchased a night vision camera, which was installed in the terrarium. The image was broadcast on a TV screen located in the bedroom, so people could see everything that was happening with their pets during their nightly activity, without disturbing the peace of the animals. In the dark, left alone, the loris shook off their phlegmatic drowsiness - they actively moved, communicated, and made various sounds.

It turned out that another name - slow (slow great and slow little loris) is completely unsuitable for these animals! They are playful, agile, graceful and can have a lot of fun romping and misbehaving. The female called the male, he answered her, they sniffed, played, and then, having run around and eaten their belly, they sweetly fell asleep in the house in an embrace. The camera also captured how funny the lorises eat: sitting, taking a piece of food with their “hands,” almost like small human cubs.

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 bright that an example is a small primate popularly called the slow loris, but officially called 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 prosimian itself looks very original:

• Its body length varies from 18 to 38 cm;
• Weight - no more than one and a half kilograms (for the most large species, 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 their front legs do not have well-developed thumbs, due to which they cannot grab branches with their entire limb.

Thick 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 eat 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 fairly 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 his habit of constantly licking the ulnar gland, contain remnants 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 unique feature 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 the males occupy a significant large territory, which is constantly superimposed on 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 poses and sound signals- from a low grunt to a clear whistle (the last sound is made by females during the mating season).

At nine months in females, at one and a half years in males, puberty, 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 has simply decided that enough is enough for a long time spent alone, he begins to chirp loudly - and then the 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. IN lately 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.

You can often see a colorful cartoon on TV, where there is an unusual animal with sad bulging eyes, lazily hanging on the branches of trees. In nature, there is a mammal that is classified as a wet-nosed primate and is called a loris.

Description of slow lorises

How often can you find a funny animal with bulging eyes and a cute face in a toy store?. This is a species of primate - the slow loris, which in its own way appearance and the fur really resembles soft toys.

This is interesting! What is surprising is that this species is a representative poisonous mammals, capable of causing serious damage to humans from bites.

Appearance

Cute and slightly funny prosimians, the slow lorises, have a very original appearance:

• Body length. The size of this primate varies from 20 cm to 38.
• Head. It has a small head with barely noticeable ears, which are sometimes not visible at all. But the eyes of this animal have a pronounced round, even slightly bulging shape. Nature took care to emphasize this characteristic feature Lori primates, so around the eyes the fur is black or dark brown in the form of pronounced circles. But on the bridge of their nose you can distinguish a white stripe, thanks to which the animal looks like it is wearing a clown mask. Reference! It is curious that thanks to their funny face, these prosimians got their name “Loeris”, which translated from Dutch means “clown”.
• Tail. It has a very small size of about 1.5-2.5 cm.
• Weight. It depends on the representative of the species, the largest loris is the Bengal loris, around 1.5 kg, and the smallest representatives of this species are the Kalimantan lorises, weighing only about 200-300 grams.
• Wool. The hair of these primates has a grayish or yellowish tint, and it feels thick and soft to the touch.
• Fingers. Index fingers can be called vestigial organs, while the large one is well developed and contrasted with the rest. This allows the loris to grasp small objects well. The fingers have a kind of “cosmetic” nails, with the help of which primates take care of their thick fur.

Character and lifestyle

Basically, these animals lead night look life. They have excellent vision and are well oriented in the dark, thanks to the reflective substance tapetum.

This is interesting! Bright light is harmful to the eyes of these animals, they can even go blind.

Due to this feature, they mostly sleep in daytime, and after sunset they begin their active phase of the day. Although it is called active only conditionally. Thick lorises are distinguished by their regularity and slowness; they are absolutely indifferent to fast and sudden movements. When they move between the trees, they do it as carefully as possible, without catching a single leaf.

In case of danger, they freeze and can remain in stationary long time. They like to rest curled up in a ball of fur on a tree, while they hold onto a branch with their tenacious paws and hide their heads in hind legs. A fork of branches or a hollow - here perfect place for sleep of slow lorises.

If the loris was acquired as pet, then we should not forget that this is a wild mammal that is almost impossible to train to a tray. If we talk about poisonous features animal, the poison is secreted from the ulnar gland. They mainly coat their fur with this secretion to repel predators. What danger can they pose to humans? They have very sharp teeth and can bite, and since poison from the fur can get onto the fangs and claws, the bite can be accompanied by additional troubles in the form of numbness in the bitten area.

This is interesting! Terrible cases It has not been recorded in practice when a person has been seriously injured by slow lorises!

How long do slow lorises live?

The average life expectancy is 15-20 years. It all depends on the conditions in which the animal is kept. If he has appropriate care and is provided with adequate nutrition, they can enjoy their existence for up to 25 years.

Range, habitats

You can meet slow lorises in the tropical forests of Bangladesh, on the outskirts of northern China, and also in the eastern part of the Philippines. Different varieties of Loriids can inhabit the Malay Peninsula, Indonesian islands, forest areas Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Their favorite place are the tops of the trees, between the branches. Because of this habitat, it is very difficult to study the lifestyle of these mammals. Scientists were able to draw the main conclusions based on observations of primates in captivity.

Diet of slow lorises

What do these cute animals eat? Of course, plant foods in the form of vegetables, fruits, and flowering parts of plants are present in their diet. But they give preference to crickets, small birds and their eggs, and lizards. They do not disdain the resin of trees and their bark.

Important! But the most surprising thing about their diet is that they are one of the few who are able to eat poisonous insects, caterpillars, etc.

If the loris is in captivity, it is often fed with dried fruits and baby cereals, to which butter and honey are added. Small primates readily eat this food. A special balanced dry food has also been created for them. In some cases, products such as overripe bananas, quail eggs, cherries and raspberries, papaya, melon and even fresh carrots and cucumbers are used.

It is very important to provide slow lorises with their usual food in the form of caterpillars, insects, cockroaches, and crickets. Everything you need can be purchased at specialized pet stores. If you have already decided to purchase exotic pet, make sure that all the necessary conditions are created for him, because, due to the stress suffered and poor nutrition, loris in captivity can get sick and even die. Food must contain calcium and protein.

Reproduction and offspring

Not all representatives of this species can find a mate and start a family. They can choose a partner for a long time, remaining alone. Having formed a pair, both parents take care of the offspring.

Females mature by 9 months of life, and males only by 1.5 years. Pregnancy lasts 6 months and, as a rule, one or two cubs are born. They are born with open eyes and a body covered with a small layer of fur. During lactation, which lasts about 5 months, they are completely covered with enough wool to not freeze at night in the forests.

A baby loris can move from its mother to its father or another relative in the family, but it will return to its mother again and again to feed. They hold on to the fur on their belly with their tenacious paws. adult lori.