Slow Loris Conservation

Principal Investigator(s): Professor Anna Nekaris

Project start: October 2011

Funded by: PTES, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Shaldon Wildlife Trust, Twycross Zoo

About us

Slow lorises are nocturnal primates found throughout Southeast Asia. They are incredibly cute; have unusual behaviours including ultrasonic calls, unique yoga-like locomotion, an ability to enter torpor, and eat rare diet of tree gums; and they are the only venomous primates. They are also among the rarest primates on earth. Traded for pets, medicines, photo props and black magic, they are traded domestically as well as advertised via almost all of the world’s social media sites, where illegally smuggled animals are paraded as pets.

Through our Little Fireface Project, we are leading the first ever long-term study of slow lorises in the wild, which we began in 2011. Each night, our team follow slow lorises in the jungle, and each day, we run community conservation projects, conservation education programmes, and conduct surveys of wildlife trade. We also support projects in all loris range countries through on the ground research, guidance, training and providing a range of online resources. Finally, we run campaigns and use social media to tackle the international pet trade. We use all our data to help governments identify and tackle trade.

Donate to the Slow Loris Fund

Young male Javan slow loris primate

Part of

Related courses

Anthropology (BA (Hons) / BSc (Hons))
Primate Conservation (MSc / PGDip / PGCert)
Primate Conservation - Lemurs and Nocturnal Primates (MSc / PGDip / PGCert)
Primatology and Conservation (MRes / PGCert)

Research impact

Villagers and researchers celebrating slow loris

Our work has had significant impact on multiple levels.

In Indonesia and Thailand, we have supported the government with workshops to learn to identify slow lorises in trade, to rehabilitate them and to reintroduce them to the wild.

We have worked with governments on their trade laws; for example, our work with the Japanese government led to a law requiring all CITES I listed species to be microchipped so their permits could not be fraudulently used for other animals.

Our work with zoos has led to international changes in the diets fed to slow lorises and the social groups in which they are kept.

Our work with social media sites has led to the removal of certain notorious slow loris pet videos, as well as contributed to the adding of a warning that can be seen on Instagram before viewing images of illegal and cruelly treated wildlife.

Leadership

Professor Anna Nekaris

Professor in Primate Conservation

View profile

Membership

Staff

Name	Role	Email
Dr Michela Balestri	Associate Lecturer	mbalestri@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Marco Campera	Lecturer in Conservation and Biodiversity	mcampera@brookes.ac.uk
Professor Vincent Nijman	Professor in Anthropology	vnijman@brookes.ac.uk

Students

Name	Thesis Title	Supervisors	Completed
Leah Fitzpatrick	Evolution and conservation of venomous primates, the slow and pygmy lorises of South East Asia (Nycticebus sp. and Xanthonycticebus sp.)	Professor Anna Nekaris, Professor Vincent Nijman	Active
Sophie Manson	Quantifying the ecosystem services provided by vertebrates within an agroforest environment in Java, Indonesia	Professor Anna Nekaris, Professor Vincent Nijman	Active
Angelina Wilson	Primate Factoids: Efficacy of visual literature in teaching young children about ecology and conservation	Professor Anna Nekaris, Professor Vincent Nijman	Active

Collaborators

Name	Role	Organisation
Dr Muhammad Ali Imron	Lecturer (Forestry, Forest Resources Conservation)	Fakultas Kehutanan
Dr Kim Feddema	PhD	University of Western Australia
Dr Stephanie Poindexter	Assistant Professor	University at Buffalo

Donation

Our work is given charitable status by the Oxford Brookes University Development Office. We welcome donations that will help us in our valuable work. Your donation would provide support to a range of activities to keep the slow loris in the wild where they belong including:

supporting conservation and education activities in slow loris habitats
providing important funds for field work and research
helping to support scholarships for loris range country students to be able to study for Masters and PhD degrees.

Donate now

Thank you for donating to Oxford Brookes and helping us protect the only poisonous primate. Our bank details, to which you should send your donation, are as follows:

Bank Name: Barclays Bank PL
Account Name: O B DEV FUND
Sort Code: 20-65-26
Account Number: 70839574
IBAN: GB88 BARC 206526 70839574

When transferring funds please state what you are donating to (eg a scholarship fund, research area, general funds etc.), so we can ensure the money is correctly allocated.

If you have any questions, please contact Development and Alumni Relations on alumni@brookes.ac.uk.