Slow Loris

Southeast Asia · nocturnal · primates · forest animals

Nighttime explorers. Slow lorises are nocturnal, which means they sleep during the day and hunt for food at night in the forests of Southeast Asia. Their large eyes help them see perfectly in the dark.

Super gripping hands. Unlike other primates, slow lorises have hands where the second finger is very short and the other fingers are long and powerful. This lets them grip branches tightly and almost never slip.

Spread across Southeast Asia. Slow lorises live across a huge area, from Bangladesh and Northeast India all the way east to the Philippines, and from southern China down to Java. They make their homes in tropical forests.

Unusual primates. Slow lorises belong to a special group of primates called strepsirrhines, which are more primitive than monkeys and apes. They have wet noses and other features that show they are an ancient type of primate.

Super slow movers. True to their name, slow lorises move very deliberately and cautiously through trees at night, one careful step at a time. This slow movement helps them sneak up on insects and prey.