![]() ‘Loris’ I whispered to my Sri Lankan colleague, trying to contain my excitement on finding this ancient primate. As I scanned forward I briefly picked up burning orange dots in the dark forest, and slowly scanning back, there was no mistaking the large orange glow of loris eyes. The reflective eye shine of roosting birds, forest rats and mouse deer all made me think the next would be a loris. ![]() Shadows danced, trees appeared to move and the faintest noise kept me on high alert. As I tried to stay on my feet, I scanned the trees with my dim red torch beam. Trying to keep your eyes looking left or right, whilst moving forward at a constant pace through the forest, without seeing where you are going, hardly comes naturally. I was strongly advised that surprising an elephant in the dark is not something you’ll want to do! On these excursions, someone gets the short straw of leading the line to warn of their presence. The only animal to cause any concern in these parts are elephants. However, I was quickly assured that they are seldom roused by human contact and usually make every attempt to avoid confrontation. This one sat motionless in the tree branches, no doubt waiting for something ‘meal size’ to pass within striking distance. Snakes fascinate me, but also have my immediate respect. This is an endemic snake with its characteristic green colouration and triangular head. My first wildlife encounter was with a green pit viper (Trimeresurus trigonocephalus). Looking for loris is an exercise in ‘who’s looking at who’. I joined a research team in the Knuckles Range, on one of their night-time sorties. The prospects for this creature was not so bright but it has spurred action. Recent evidence suggests however, that they are habitat specialists, and such a uniform distribution is thought to be highly unlikely. Previously thought to occupy any forested area, they were not considered threatened. This is compounded by limited forest protection and the fact that they seem to be fussy in their forest requirements. Conventionally, their habitats changed to tea plantation as well as other agricultural conversion, illegal encroachment, logging, and fire wood collection (to name but a few) all pose risks to the loris. The bad news is that the lorises depend on forests, which have been disappearing fast. However, most research had focused on their Indian cousins and we know very little about the Sri Lankan species. ![]() tardigradus nycticeboides) – both unique to Sri Lanka. There are at least two subspecies of red slender loris: the western red slender loris (Loris tardigradus tardigradus) and the montane (or Horton Plains) slender loris (L. The fossil record of the lorises extends over 20 million years and they retain many features similar to those of the earliest primates, our own ancestors. Most, are perhaps unaware of these endangered and elusive nocturnal lorises lurking in the forests, even though they have been around for eons. It is hard to confuse them with anything else! Sure enough, after just a couple of hours of searching I caught my first glimpse of a loris – well at least its eyes.įortunate visitors to Sri Lanka may see a macaque or langur species, since current knowledge suggests there are five species of non-human primates that occur in Sri Lanka - the toque macaque (Macaca sinica), purple-faced langur (Trachypithecus vetulus), the gray langur (Semnopithecus priam thersites) and slender lorises (Loris tardigradus and Loris lydekkarianus). It is not as difficult as you may think, since if you do catch them in your torch beam, their eyes reflect a distinctive bright orange, like two large glowing marbles. Not monkeys or apes, but a more ancient form – the red slender loris, a small nocturnal primate characterised by long slender limbs and enormous eyes. Accompanying a team of researchers from the University of Colombo and the Open University of Sri Lanka we were searching deep inside the remaining forests for primitive prosimian primates. However, that is exactly where I found myself in the early hours, wandering through the forests in south-western Sri Lanka with a red filtered light beaming from my head-torch. If you want to go wildlife watching then you may not expect to do it in the dark. This is the first time a female has been recorded since 1937, and consequently this is the first photograph. The female Horton Plains (montane) slender loris.
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