Diet
editSlow lorises are omnivores, eating insects, arthropods, small birds and reptiles, eggs, fruits, gums, nectar and other vegetation.[1][2][3][4] A 1984 study of the Sunda Slow Loris indicated that its diet consists of 71% fruit and gums and 29% insects and other animal prey.[1][2][5] A more detailed study of a different Sunda Slow Loris population in 2002 and 2003 showed very different dietary proportions. This study showed a diet consisting of 43.3% gum, 31.7% nectar, 22.5% fruit and just 2.5% anthropods and other animal prey.[1] The most common dietary item was nectar from flowers of the Bertram palm (Eugeissona tristis).[1] The Sunda Slow Loris eats insects which other predators avoid due to their repugnant taste or smell.[2] Captive slow lorises eat a wide variety of foods including bananas and other fruits, rice, dog-food, raw horse meat, insects, lizards, freshly killed chicken, mice, young hamsters and milk formula that is made by mixing instant baby food with egg and honey.[4] Captive slow loris diets may be supplemented with cod-liver oil and bone meal.[4]
Preliminary results of studies on the Pygmy Slow Loris indicates that its diet consists primarily of gums and nectar (especially nectar from Saraca dives flowers, and that animal prey makes up 30%–40% of its diet.[1][6] However, one 2002 analysis of Pygmy Loris feces indicated that it contained 98% insect remains and just 2% plant remains.[4] The Pygmy Slow Loris returns to the same gum feeding sites often and leaves conspicuous gouges on tree trunks when inducing the flow of exudates.[1][6] Captive Pygmy Slow Lorises also make characteristic gouge marks in wooden substrate.[4] It is not known how the sympatric Pygmy and Bengal Slow Loris partition their feeding niches.[1]
Slow lorises can eat while hanging upside down from a branch with both hands.[2] They spend about 20% of their nightly activities feeding.[6]
Social systems
editLittle is known about the social structure of slow lorises, but they generally spend most of the night foraging alone.[6][2] Slow lorises sleep during the day, usually alone but occasionally with other slow lorises.[6] There is significant overlap between the home ranges of adults, and males may have larger home ranges than females.[6][2] In the absence of direct studies of slow lorises, Simon Bearder speculated that slow loris social behavior is similar to the Potto, another slow moving nocturnal primate.[7] Such a social system is distinguished by a lack of matriarchy and by factors that allow the slow loris to remain inconspicuous and minimize energy expenditure, by limiting vocal exchanges and alarm calls and by scent marking being the dominant form of communication.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Nekaris, Anna and Bearder, Simon K. "The Lorisiform Primates of Asia and Mainland Africa". In Campbell, Christina J.; Fuentes, Agustin; Mackinnon, Katherine C.; Panger, Melissa and Bearder, Simon K (ed.). Primates in Perspective. Oxford University Press. pp. 28–33. ISBN 978-0-19-517133-4.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f Rowe, Noel (1996). The Pictorial Guide to the Living Primates. Pogonias Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 0-9648825-0-7.
- ^ Menon, Vivek (2009). Mammals of India. Princeton University Press. p. 28. ISBN 978-0-691-14067-4.
- ^ a b c d e Schulze, H. "Nutrition of lorises and pottos". Loris and potto conservation database. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
- ^ Bearder, Simon K. (1987). "Lorises, Bushbabies, and Tarsiers: Diverse Societies in Solitary Foragers". Primate Societies. The University of Chicago Press. p. 16. ISBN 0-226-76716-7.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|editors=ignored (|editor=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d e f "Slow loris Nycticebus". National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin – Madison. Retrieved 2010-12-17.