Endangered slender loris finds shelter in Pilikula

The nocturnal animal was found in a farm in Tumkur and brought to the park by an animal lover

The slender loris brought to Pilikula Biological Park, Mangalore is nowbeing reared at the park in an artificially created environment. Photo: Raviprasad Kamila

An orphan baby slender loris found in a farmland in Tumkur has now found shelter in the Pilikula Biological Park on the outskirts of the city.

According to park director H. Jayaprakash Bhandary slender loris is an endangered species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species has listed it under “endangered” category.

An animal lover who found it in Tumkur brought it to the park three days ago. Mr. Bhandary told

The Hindu that the baby animal could be two months old.

Its sex has not yet been identified. Normally slender loris, which is a primate, took eight months to attain maturity and they lived up to 15 years, he said.

He said it fed on insects, red ant, shoots of plants and fruits. “Red ants are their favourite food,” he said.

The director said that slender loris lived in rain forests, scrub and deciduous forests in India and is also found in Sri Lanka. “They are of nocturnal type. Love to live in darkness and become active in night,” he said.

Stating that they were of shy nature, Mr. Bhandary said they had become endangered as they were victims of hunters for various reasons.

He said that the park already had a male slender loris. Even in zoos across India the slender loris are not in large number.

Mr. Bhandary said that till the baby grew up it would not be kept for public viewing. It would be kept in a special cage by creating dark atmosphere artificially. The baby might weigh 100 grams to 150 grams now, he said.