Slender Loris
(loris tardigradus)

Kingdom: Animalia  Phylum: Chordata  Class: Mammalia  Order: Primates 
Family: Lorisdae  Genus: Loris  Species: Tardigradus
The slender loris is a very interesting animal. It is 7-10 inches in length and has soft gray and brown fur. Unfortunately, this fur makes them endangered because they are trapped and killed by hunters who are after their pelts. They also have dark patches around their huge, round eyes. Along with their large eyes, they also have large ears, but their tails are very short. Their lifespan is around ten years. Lastly, they weigh 3-12 ounces. They have a very complex diet, which leads people to believe that they are not picky eaters. They will eat insects, shoots, leaves, fruits, the eggs of some small birds, small vertebrates. Slender lorises can be found in the tropical and woodland forests of India and Sri Lanka. These are very ideal climates for them, but they are suffering from logging and other habitat destruction. The slender loris has nothing to scare off predators on the outside, but has a mild toxin to deter predators. They have very poor vision during the day, but at night they have superior vision. They can also tolerate very high temperatures and also very low temperatures.  They are descended directly from some of the earliest primates. It possesses the strongest grip in its family; lorisdae .The oldest slender loris lived to be fifteen and a half years old. The slender loris is a very important part of the ecosystem that it lives in. The lorises help stabilize population numbers by eating a diet of insects. The oldest loris lived to be 15 ½ years old, which is an amazingly long lifespan for a loris. The loris is a wonderful and interesting animal.

Bibliography/Work Cited
“Loris” -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loris” - Wikipedia - ©2010
“Loris” - http://www.school.eb.com/comptons/article-9312228 – Encyclopedia Brittanica, Inc. – ©2010
“Loris tardigradus-slender loris” - http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Loris_tardigradus.html - The Regents of the University of Michigan - ©2008