Slender Lorises in Captivity

Coelacanth18

Coelacanth18

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Does anyone know about the status and husbandry of slender lorises in captivity? They appear to be held in small numbers in Europe and North America, but I don't know if the population is growing or shrinking. I also don't know what their status is in India or other regions of the world. I do know that the husbandry has been somewhat challenging for slender lorises (as it has been for most lorid species) and they have one of the highest infant mortality rates of any captive prosimian. I imagine the population probably also derives from a very low founder base, since it's so small to begin with. Finally, what are the prospects of building the captive population up to a more sustainable one in the near future?
 
Coelacanth18 said:
Does anyone know about the status and husbandry of slender lorises in captivity? They appear to be held in small numbers in Europe and North America
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Only 3 European zoos hold breeding groups: Antwerp, Frankfurt and London - all of which have had births during the last 6 months. There is also 1.1 at Newquay and unpaired males at a couple of other UK collections.
I wasn't aware of Slender Loris in North American zoos. Do you have details?
 
This article about a birth at Memphis Zoo in 2015 reveals that, as of then, there were only 7 left in the United States, with 5 being at Memphis and it being the only institution breeding them.

Baby Slender Loris Born at Memphis Zoo

This article on loris husbandry in North America was written in 2012: A Survey of Husbandry Practices for Lorisid Primates in North American Zoos and Related Facilities

At that time, there were 12. If both numbers are accurate, it seems that the population is dwindling. This appears to be corroborated by Duke Lemur Center's website, which states that there are only about 10 and that they are getting up there in age (the info on DLC's website tends to be very out-of-date though). DLC had 1.0 slender loris named Abu, but he passed away in 2014.

Also, I believe the species held in the US is Loris tardigradus, as opposed to Loris lydekkerianus in Europe.
 
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Visited Antwerp Zoo yesterday and in the Nocturnal-house there are 2 enclosures with are signed as housing Slender loris.
In the first enclosure the sign calls them Northern dry zone slender loris and no scientific name is mentioned on the sign ( see Sign Northern Dry Zone Slender Lori | ZooChat ). They -I was able to see 2 animals and made a somewhat decent photo of 1, see Slender Lori | ZooChat - are housed with a breeding-pair of Balabac mouse deers.
On one of the other enclosures I found a sign with only "Slender loris" on it but here there was a scientific name, saying Loris lydekkerianus ( see Sign Slender Lori | ZooChat ). In this enclosure I was however unable to find any Slender loris and only saw the other inhabitant of this enclosure, a Javan mouse deer - I only saw one but there may been have more because there was born a young one lately.
 
Thanks for the info @vogelcommando. Northern dry zone slender loris is a subspecies of L. lydekkerianus, specifically L. l. nordicus. I believe all slender lorises in Europe belong to that subspecies.
 
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