Saving Slender Lorises in Sri Lanka
Though the word ‘primate’ usually brings to mind images of monkeys and apes for most people, there are several groups of primitive primates that are far more strange and unknown. The lorises are small nocturnal animals that inhabit the forests of India, Sri Lanka and South East Asia, and feed primarily on insects. Many loris species are in dire straits, and ZSL is working hard to protect the remaining populations.
© D Vidanapathirana. Western red slender loris The Red Slender loris is on the brink of extinction and is a focal point of ZSL’s work in Sri Lanka. There are two subspecies, and the habitats of both are rapidly being lost and fragmented due to agricultural development and firewood collection. The Western red slender loris (Loris tardigradus tardigradus) inhabits wet lowland habitats and only about 1500 individuals remain. The montane or Horton Plains slender loris (L. t. nycticeboides) is in an even worse state, and was thought extinct since its last sighting in 1937. In 2009, however, ZSL EDGE fellows were lucky enough to sight these animals on a field trip in the humid montane forests of the Horton Plains, and only about 80 montane slender lorises are estimated to exist.
ZSL conservation action
Since 2008, ZSL’s EDGE of Existence programme has been engaged in a collaborative project with Open University of Sri Lanka and the University of Colombo wildlife experts, to bring conservation focus to this sub-species and its remaining habitat. A key part of this work assessed the distribution of lorises in over 120 different forest patches across a quarter of Sri Lanka’s area, involving over 1000 surveys. This resulted in the first detailed review of the status of the Western slender loris, giving a clearer picture on their distribution, the habitat they like and the numbers remaining. This information has been vital to creating and effective a conservation plan to put into action to save these animals.
© C Mahanayakage. A rare photograph of the Montane slender loris In June 2011, EDGE launched a reforestation campaign in the central highlands of Sri Lanka. This is an effort to protect the Western and Horton’s Plains slender lorises. The ZSL is working with local authorities and communities to plant 100 hectares of scrubland with native seedlings and create vital ecological corridors between remaining patches of forest. These will allow lorises to move between the remaining forest patches more easily, and protecting the surviving populations from a rapid exctinction as habitat patched were destroyed one by one. These corridors will also benefit other declining species such as leopards and the Sri Lankan spiny mouse.
In conjunction with reforestation, our team is carrying out threat analyses to allow us to fine-tune our conservation plans and setting up education programmes across south-western Sri Lanka to involve local communities in preserving the amazing creatures of Sri Lanka’s remaining wild places.
