The Loris Family

"Biological classification L Pengo vflip"
by Peter Halasz. (User:Pengo) - Own work.
Licensed under Public Domain
via Wikimedia Commons - Link

The image on the left is to remind all of us of what we learnt in 5th standard in school - classification of living organisms in Biology.

With this in mind, let's see if we can figure out the place of the Slender Loris amongst the vast number of plants and animals in the world.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
  Suborder: Strepsirrhini
Family: Lorisidae
  Subfamily: Lorinae
Genus: Loris

This is always fascinating to understand, since this brings home the point of just how closely related the Loris is to humans. Yes, let's read that again - the Slender Loris is quite closely related to humans.

There are only these four groups (currently existing) within the Order Primates - Apes, Monkeys, Prosimians and Humans. The Loris family, along with the Lemurs and the Bush Babies of Madagascar, are a part of the Prosimian group.


What Sets the Loris Apart

• Unlike most other primates, the Loris is nocturnal
• Again unlike most other primates, the Loris is much older on the evolutionary scale than more-recent primates, such as Apes and Humans
• The Slender Loris is found only in Southern India and Sri Lanka
• The Slow Loris is found in North-Eastern India, Indochina and other parts of South-East Asia