Wendy Eastman, age 11, of Costa Yesa, Calif. for her question:
What kind of animal is the loris?
Laziness is about the best word to describe the loris. Long ago, Dutch explorers found him in the jungles of Asia. To them, he was a strange new animal. After observ¬ing him for a while, they named him the loris, from a Dutch word meaning "sloth", or downright laziness. The people of Malay, who have known him for a very, very long time, call him the bashful cat. This is because the furry, cat sized fellow often covers his face with his monkey type hands.
The monkeys, as we know, are frisky acrobats and very fond of monkey company. They fill their days with noisy gossiping and restless activity. No self respecting monkey would want to recognize a lazy cousin who moves in slow motion and dozes all day. Never¬theless, human zoologists insist that the lazy loris belongs in the noble Order of Pri¬mates which includes the sprightly monkeys and the dignified great apes.
After a lot of searching, we might find the loris in certain steamy jungles of Asia. During the day, he is fast asleep, with his furry face nestled in his furry tummy and his little monkey hands grasping, a lofty bough. Except for his monkey type fingers, you might mistake him for a sleeping, kitten with thick, soft fur of grey or brown. After sunset, the lazy loris slowly, very slowly comes awake and thinks of food.
As he uncurls, you notice his small rounded ears and the big hazy eyes that stare from his little pointed face. But he still looks somewhat like a furry, bob tailed kitten. That is, until he starts to move. Cats, and especially kittens love to leap, bounce and pounce at high speed. The lazy loris does everything in super slow motion.
He dines on leaves, fruit and insects. Slowly, very slowly he reaches up to grasp a berry or a helping. of greenery. Then perhaps he notices a moth, resting on a leaf. The lazy hunter moves a lazy hand, then a lazy foot. Plot a leaf is rustled as he inches toward his prey. When he sets close enough, he makes a lunge and grabs the moth in his hand. This takes care of his exercise for one night, at least. It is said that sometimes he catches a lizard, though this seems hard to believe.
The so called slow loris grows to be 15 inches long. ,He is quite chubby and there is a black stripe down the back of his fadm colored coat. He is at home in the jungles of Southeast Asia. The so called slender loris of India and Ceylon is dark grey and merely eight inches long.
The female loris bears a single baby at a time, about six months after mating. Not much is known about her family life, except that junior leaves her before the next baby arrives. Like all his kinfolk, he lives a solitary life. Naturally such a slowpoke tends to avoid accidents. With luck, he can expect a life span of about ten years.