Lorisidae
Encyclopedia
Lorisidae is a family of strepsirrhine primate
s. The lorisids are all slim arboreal animals and include the loris
es, potto
s and angwantibo
s. Lorisids live in tropical, central Africa
as well as in south and southeast Asia
.
is similar to that of lemurs:
and arboreal. Unlike the closely related galago
s, lorisids never jump. Some have slow deliberate movements, whilst others can move with some speed across branches. It was previously thought that all lorisids moved slowly, but investigations using red light proved this to be wrong. Nonetheless, even the faster species freeze or move slowly if they hear or see any potential predator. This habit of remaining motionless whilst in danger is successful only because of the leafy environment of their jungle home, which helps to conceal their true position. With their strong hands they clasp at the branches and cannot be removed without significant force. Most lorisids are solitary or live in small family groups.
s, but they also consume bird
eggs
and small vertebrate
s as well as fruit
s and sap.
period of four to six months and give birth to two young. These often clasp themselves to the belly of the mother or wait in nests, while the mother goes to search for food. After three to nine months - depending upon species - they are weaned
and are fully mature within ten to eighteen months. The life expectancy
of the lorises can be to up to 20 years.
and nine species of lorid.
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
s. The lorisids are all slim arboreal animals and include the loris
Loris
Loris is the common name for the strepsirrhine primates of the subfamily Lorisinae in family Lorisidae. Loris is one genus in this subfamily and includes the slender lorises, while Nycticebus is the genus for the slow lorises....
es, potto
Potto
The potto is a strepsirrhine primate from the Lorisidae family. It is the only species in genus Perodicticus...
s and angwantibo
Angwantibo
The angwantibos are the two species of strepsirrhine primates that are classified in the Arctocebus genus of the Lorisidae family. They are also known as golden pottos because of their yellow or golden coloration....
s. Lorisids live in tropical, central Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
as well as in south and southeast Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.
Physical characteristics
Lorisids have a close, woolly fur which is usually grey or brown colored, darker on the top side. The eyes are large and face forward. The ears are small and often partially hidden in the fur. The thumbs are opposable and the index finger is short. The second toe of the hind legs has a fine claw for grooming, typical for strepsirrhines. Their tails are short or are missing completely. They grow to a length of 17 to 40 cm and a weight of between 0.3 and 2 kg, depending on the species. Their dental formulaDentition
Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age...
is similar to that of lemurs:
Behavior
Lorisids are diurnalDiurnal animal
Diurnality is a plant or animal behavior characterized by activity during the day and sleeping at night.-In animals:Animals that are not diurnal might be nocturnal or crepuscular . Many animal species are diurnal, including many mammals, insects, reptiles and birds...
and arboreal. Unlike the closely related galago
Galago
Galagos , also known as bushbabies, bush babies or nagapies , are small, nocturnal primates native to continental Africa, and make up the family Galagidae...
s, lorisids never jump. Some have slow deliberate movements, whilst others can move with some speed across branches. It was previously thought that all lorisids moved slowly, but investigations using red light proved this to be wrong. Nonetheless, even the faster species freeze or move slowly if they hear or see any potential predator. This habit of remaining motionless whilst in danger is successful only because of the leafy environment of their jungle home, which helps to conceal their true position. With their strong hands they clasp at the branches and cannot be removed without significant force. Most lorisids are solitary or live in small family groups.
Diet
The main diet of most lorisids consists of insectInsect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s, but they also consume bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
and small vertebrate
Vertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
s as well as fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s and sap.
Reproduction
Lorisids have a gestationGestation
Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
period of four to six months and give birth to two young. These often clasp themselves to the belly of the mother or wait in nests, while the mother goes to search for food. After three to nine months - depending upon species - they are weaned
Weaning
Weaning is the process of gradually introducing a mammal infant, either human or animal, to what will be its adult diet and withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk.The process takes place only in mammals, as only mammals produce milk...
and are fully mature within ten to eighteen months. The life expectancy
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
of the lorises can be to up to 20 years.
Classification
There are five generaGenus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
and nine species of lorid.
- Order PrimatePrimateA primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
s- Suborder StrepsirrhiniStrepsirrhiniThe clade Strepsirrhini is one of the two suborders of primates. Madagascar's only non-human primates are strepsirrhines, and others can be found in southeast Asia and Africa...
: non-tarsier prosimians- Infraorder LemuriformesLemurLemurs are a clade of strepsirrhine primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. They are named after the lemures of Roman mythology due to the ghostly vocalizations, reflective eyes, and the nocturnal habits of some species...
- Infraorder LorisiformesLorisiformesLorisiformes are a group of primates found throughout Africa and Asia. Members of this infraorder include the galagos and the lorises. As strepsirrhines, they are related to the lemurs.* Order Primates** Suborder Strepsirrhini: non-tarsier prosimians...
- Family Lorisidae
- Subfamily PerodicticinaePerodicticinaePerodicticinae is the subfamily of Lorisidae that includes the four species of African primates as shown below. They have a vestigial tail and index finger. The snout is pointed and the ears and eyes are large...
- Genus Arctocebus
- Calabar angwantiboCalabar AngwantiboThe Calabar angwantibo , also known as the Calabar potto, is a strepsirrhine primate from the Lorisidae family. It shares the genus Arctocebus with the golden angwantibo...
, Arctocebus calabarensis - Golden angwantiboGolden AngwantiboThe golden angwantibo is a strepsirrhine primate from the family Lorisidae. It shares the Arctocebus genus with the Calabar angwantibo and together they are commonly called the golden pottos. The golden...
, Arctocebus aureus
- Calabar angwantibo
- Genus Perodicticus
- PottoPottoThe potto is a strepsirrhine primate from the Lorisidae family. It is the only species in genus Perodicticus...
, Perodicticus potto
- Potto
- Genus Pseudopotto
- False pottoFalse PottoThe false potto is a lorisiform primate of uncertain taxonomic status found in Africa. Anthropologist Jeffrey H. Schwartz named it in 1996 as the only species of the genus Pseudopotto on the basis of two specimens that had previously been identified as pottos...
, Pseudopotto martini
- False potto
- Genus Arctocebus
- Subfamily Lorinae
- Genus LorisSlender lorisThe slender lorises are two species of loris native to India and Sri Lanka, the only members of the genus Loris:* the red slender loris, Loris tardigradus* the gray slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus...
- Red slender lorisRed Slender LorisThe red slender loris is a small, nocturnal prosimian native to the rainforests of Sri Lanka. This is #6 of the 10 focal species and #22 of the 100 EDGE mammal species worldwide considered the most Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered. Two subspecies have been identified, L. t....
, Loris tardigradus - Gray slender lorisGray Slender LorisThe gray slender loris is a species of primate in the Loridae family. It is found in India and Sri Lanka. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss...
, Loris lydekkerianus
- Red slender loris
- Genus Nycticebus
- Sunda slow loris, Nycticebus coucang
- Bengal slow lorisBengal Slow LorisThe Bengal slow loris or northern slow loris is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina. Its geographic range is larger than that of any other slow loris species...
, Nycticebus bengalensis - Pygmy slow lorisPygmy Slow LorisThe pygmy slow loris is a rare species of loris found in the tropical dry forests of Vietnam, Laos, southern China, and east of the Mekong River in Cambodia....
, Nycticebus pygmaeus - Javan slow lorisJavan slow lorisThe Javan slow loris is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris native to the western and central portions of the island of Java, in Indonesia...
, Nycticebus javanicus - Bornean slow lorisBornean Slow LorisThe Bornean slow loris or Philippine slow loris is a strepsirrhine primate and a species of slow loris that is native to the island of Borneo , the nearby islands of Belitung and Bangka in Indonesia, and the Sulu Archipelago in the Philippines...
, Nycticebus menagensis
- Genus Loris
- Subfamily Perodicticinae
- Family Galagidae: galagos
- Family Lorisidae
- Infraorder Lemuriformes
- Suborder HaplorrhiniHaplorrhiniThe haplorhines, the "dry-nosed" primates , are members of the Haplorhini clade: the prosimian tarsiers and the anthropoids...
: tarsiers, monkeys and apes
- Suborder Strepsirrhini