loris
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(lôr'ĭs, lōr'-) 
n.
Any of several small, slow-moving, nocturnal prosimian primates of the genera Loris and Nycticebus of tropical Asia, having dense woolly fur, large eyes, and a vestigial tail.
n.
Any of several small, slow-moving, nocturnal prosimian primates of the genera Loris and Nycticebus of tropical Asia, having dense woolly fur, large eyes, and a vestigial tail.
[French, possibly from obsolete Dutch loeris, simpleton, from loer, from Old French lourt, from Latin lūridus, pale. See lurid.]
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Any of three species of nocturnal, arboreal primates in the family Lorisidae. Lorises have soft gray or brown fur, huge eyes encircled by dark patches, and no tail. They move slowly and often hang by their feet, leaving their hands free to grasp branches or food. The slender loris (Loris tardigradus) of India and Sri Lanka is 810 in. (2025 cm) long; it eats insects and small animals. The slow lorises (genus Nycticebus) of South Asia and the Malay Peninsula eat insects, small animals, fruit, and vegetation. Nycticebus pygmaeus is about 8 in. (20 cm) long; N. coucang is 10.515 in. (2738 cm) long. Habitat degradation and hunting have seriously depleted loris populations.
For more information on loris, visit Britannica.com.
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Loris
loris, name for slow-moving, nocturnal, arboreal primates of the family Lorisidae, found in India, Sri Lanka, and SE Asia. Lorises have round heads, large round eyes, and furry bodies. They have no tails, and their index fingers are vestigial. Lorises move hand over hand through the trees, gripping the branches firmly with hands and feet; they feed on insects and vegetable matter. Best known are the slender loris (Loris tardigradus), with an 8-in.-long (20-cm) body and very thin legs, and the slow loris (Nycticebus coucang), with a 16-in.-long (40-cm) body and short, thick legs. The slow loris has pale brownish fur with a darker dorsal stripe. African members of the loris family are the potto (Perodicticus potto), which has a stumpy tail, the angwantibo (Arctocebus calabarensis), characterized by its pointed face, and the bush babies, or galagos, a distinctive group of small, swift-moving animals. Lorises are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Primates, family Lorisidae.
N. City & County of Yorks. Pothow (1202), ‘Mound or hill by a pit or where pots were found’. OE pott + OScand. haugr.
| Pottiaghan, Potterspury, Potters Bar | |
| Potton, Poughill, Poughill |
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Primitive primate, nocturnal and arboreal, insectivorous and without a tail; very slow moving and related to lemurs. Includes slender loris (Loris tardigradus), slow loris (Nycticebus coucang).
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categories related to 'loris'
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For other uses, see Loris (disambiguation).
| Lorises[1] | |
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| Joseph Smit's Faces of Lorises (1904) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Family: | Lorisidae |
| Subfamily: | Lorisinae Gray, 1821 |
| Genera | |
Loris is the common name for the strepsirrhine primates of the subfamily Lorisinae in family Lorisidae. Loris is one genus in this subfamily and includes the slender lorises, while Nycticebus is the genus for the slow lorises.
Lorises are nocturnal. They are found in tropical and woodland forests of India, Sri Lanka, and other parts in southeast Asia. Loris locomotion is a slow and cautious climbing form of quadrupedalism. Some lorises are almost entirely insectivorous, while others also include fruits, gums, leaves, and slugs in their diet.[2]
Female lorises practice infant parking, leaving their young infants behind in nests. Before they do this they bathe their young with allergenic saliva that is acquired by licking patches on the insides of their elbows that produce a mild toxin that discourages most predators,[2] though orangutans occasionally eat lorises.[3]
Taxonomic classification
The family Lorisidae is found within the infraorder Lorisiformes with the family Galagidae, the galagos. This infraorder is a sister taxon of Lemuriformes, the lemurs. Within Lorisinae, there are seven species of lorises in two genera.[1]
- Family Lorisidae
- Subfamily Perodicticinae
- Subfamily Lorisinae
- Genus Loris
- Gray slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus
- Highland slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus grandis
- Mysore slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus lydekkerianus
- Malabar slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus malabaricus
- Northern slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus nordicus
- Red slender loris, Loris tardigradus
- Dry Zone slender loris, Loris tardigradus tardigradus
- Horton Plains slender loris, Loris tardigradus nyctoceboides
- Gray slender loris, Loris lydekkerianus
- Genus Nycticebus
- Sunda slow loris, Nycticebus coucang
- Bengal slow loris, Nycticebus bengalensis
- Pygmy slow loris, Nycticebus pygmaeus
- Javan slow loris, Nycticebus javanicus
- Bornean slow loris, Nycticebus menagensis
- ? Nycticebus linglom (fossil, Miocene)
- Genus Loris
References
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Wikispecies has information related to: Loris |
- ^ a b Groves, C. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. eds. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 122-123. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3.
- ^ a b Jurmain et al (2008). Introduction to Physical Anthropology.
- ^ http://www.orangutan.org/orangutan-facts/orangutan-ecology
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