Apes, Monkeys, and Lemurs 



31 



Pkolo bij L. Mcdiaiid, F.Z.S.] [NorUi Fiiiddcy. 



SLEXDER LORIS. 

 This extraordinary creature has tlie habits of a chameleon avI 

 seeking insects for food. 'Ihe photograph is unique. 



of many of tlie leimiioid aiiiiiials corvesjiomls to the 

 hibernation of jiiaiiy iioithein inaiiiinnls. Tro2)ical 

 animals often lieconie torpid to avoid the famine 

 caused by the hot season, just as creatures in cold 

 countries hibernate to avoid the hunger which would 

 otherwise come with winter. 



The Slow Lemtrs or Lohlses, and Tausiers. 



Another group of leuiuroids is distinguished from 

 the foregoing by having the second finger of the 

 fore paws either yery short or rudimentary. The 

 thumb and great toe are also set very widely 

 apart from the other fingers and toes. A far 

 more striking distinction to the non-scientific eye 

 is their astonishingly delilierate and slow movements. 

 They have no tails, enormous eyes, and very long, 

 slender legs. 



The SLO\y Louis is found in Eastcn-n India and 

 the jAIalay countries, where it is faiiiy common in 

 the forests. The Ijcngali natives call it sharraindi 

 h'dll (•• bashful cat"), from its slow, solemn, hesitating 

 movements when in ])ursuit of insects. Of a slow 

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

 I\esearches," 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 grasshojjper or any insect alighted within his 

 leach, his eyes, as he fixed them on his prey, glowed with uncommon fire ; and ha\'ing 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 pjrowling for them." 



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

 Ceylon. Its food consists entirely of insects, which it captures liy gradual, almost paralysed 

 approach. It has been described as a " farry-eoated chamelecm." A group of slow lemurs, 

 living in '\\'estern Africa, are know^n as 

 Pottos. They are odd little quadrupeds, 

 in which the "forefinger'' never grows to 

 be more than a stunrp. The tail is also 

 either sharp or rudimentary. They are as 

 slow as the lorises in their movements. 



In the ]\Ialay islands a distant rela- 

 tive, even more curiously formed, is found 

 in the Tarsier. It has the huge eyes, 

 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 not so large 

 as a good-sized rat. Our photograph does 

 not give an adequate idea of the size of 

 the eyes. 



Fkolo hij L. Medland, F.Z.S.'] 



[North Fiaddcy. 



SLOW LORIS. 



Another of the slow-moving loris group. These animals are not shown to 

 the genera] public at the Zoo, but kept in a specially warmed room. 



