APF.S, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



3 1 



PrMn if L. Midland, F.Z.S.~] [North Finchll) 



SLENDER LORIS 



This extraordinary creature has the habits of a chameleonivhen 

 seeking insects for food. The photograph is unique 



tion of many northern mammals. Tropical animals 

 often become torpid to avoid the famine cau ed by 

 the hot '.i on, ju i as creatures in cold countries 

 hibernate to avoid the hunger which would otherwise 

 ii ime with winter. 



The Slow Lemurs ok Lorises, and Tarsiers 



Another group oflemuroids is distinguished from 

 the foregoing by having the second finger of the tort- 

 paws cither very short or rudimentary. The thumb 

 and great toe are also set very widely apart from the 

 other lingers and toes. A far more striking distinc- 

 tion to the non-scientific eye is their astonishingly 

 deliberate and slow movements. They have no tails, 

 enormous eyes, and very long, slender legs. 



The Slow Loris is found in Eastern India and 

 the Malay countries, where it is fairly common in the 

 forests. The Bengali natives call it sharmindi billi 

 (" bashful cat "), from its slow, solemn, hesitating 

 movements when in pursuit of insects. Of a slow 

 loris kept by him. Sir William Jones, in the " Asiatic 

 Researches," wrote : " At all times he seemed 

 pleased at being stroked on the head and throat, and he frequently allowed me to touch his 

 extremely sharp teeth. But his temper was always quick, and when he was unseasonably 

 disturbed he expressed a little resentment, by an obscure murmur, like that of a squirrel. 

 When a grasshopper or any insect alighted within his reach, his eyes, as he fixed them on his 

 prey, glowed with uncommon fire; and having drawn himself back to spring on his prey with 

 greater force, he seized it with both his fore paws, and held it till he had devoured it. He never 

 could have enough grasshoppers, and spent the whole night in prowling for them." 



The Slender Loris, an equally curious creature, is only found in Southern India 

 ami Ceylon. Its food consists entirely of insects, which it captures by gradual, almost 

 paralysed approach. Its has been described as a " furry-coated chameleon." A group 

 of slow lemurs, living in Western Africa, are known as Pottos. They are odd little quad- 

 rupeds, in which the "forefinger" never 

 grows to be more than a stump. The 

 tail is also either sharp or rudimentary. 

 The_\- are as slow as the lorises in their 

 movements. »*■ 



In the Malay islands a distant rela- 

 tive, even more curiously formed, is found 

 in the Tarsier. It has the huge eye , 

 pointed ears, and beautiful fur of the 

 galagos, but the tail is long, thin and 

 tufted. The fingers are flattened out into 

 disks, like a tree-frog's. These creatures 

 hop from bough to bough in a frog-like 

 manner in search of insects. They are 



Phtlt bj L. Midland, F.Z.S.] 



not so large as a good-sized rat. Our SLOW loris 



photograph does not give an adequate Another of the sloto-moving loris group. These animals are not shewn to the 



idea of the size of the eyes. 



Flmhli} 



general public at the Zoo, but kept in a specially ivarmed ro:m 



