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In the wild lorises eat a variety of leaves, insects, fruit,
vegetables, small mammals, infant birds, bird's eggs, and flowers.
They drink dew and rain off the leaves. At the Zoo our lorises
eat a diet of mixed fruits and vegetables, (they always leave
the vegetables for last when nothing else is left!) primate biscuits,
and insects (mealworms and crickets). The keepers make a "loris
patty" out of crushed biscuit, applesauce and banana because
the slow lorises refuse to eat the bland primate biscuit on its
own, and it is vital that they eat the nutritious biscuit.
Zoo keepers also hand feed live crickets to the lorises at midday.
This gets the animals down close so the keepers can get a good
look at them each day. During this time the keepers condition
the animals to tolerate the keeper's touch so they can be checked
for injuries that can easily be hidden under their thick fur and
to palpate the female's abdomen for pregnancies. Using crickets
as a draw and a reward the keepers can condition the animals to
come to and sit on a scale for regular weighing. This trained
behavior was extremely helpful when we suspected that the female
was pregnant, and it allowed us to monitor the infant's growth.
Lorises have a number of specialized features:
- Their hands have a phenomenal grip that is
often compared to that of a boa constrictor! The grip is so
strong that they can hold onto a branch with their hind feet
and bridge across an expanse of space to reach a distant branch
with their front hands. Often it takes two keepers to dislodge
a loris clinging to a branch or wire.
- Lorises have two tooth combs. One is formed
by the lower incisors and lower canines. The second is on the
underside of the tongue and has sharpened and hardened points
used to clean debris from between the teeth and dental comb.
- All the digits have nails except for the second
toe of the hind foot which has a long claw for grooming
Loris infants are quite developed at birth. They cling to the
mother's belly fur while she sleeps and are left gripping a branch
when she searches for food (called "parking"). After
a while, the infants follow the mother, first by clinging to her
back, then by following her. During this time, the mother teaches
the infant how to recognize different kinds of food. The infants
begin eating solid food between the 40th and 60th day after birth
but still nurse form the mother. Adolescents enters puberty sometime
after the 8th month and leave the mother when they are about 1
year old.
In-depth loris information (size, range
in the wild, etc.)
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