The Slow Loris might be the proshest animule alive

by Meg on March 3, 2008

Please check out the tiniest of tongue/banana action and the [plink! plink!] eye capsules. This is the Slow Loris, a nocturnal primate from Southeast Asia. They’re not meant to be pets, they prefer hangin’ out in the trees.

Wikipedia sez these guys ar "happiest at the top of trees" and "make slow, deliberate movements and a powerful grasp that makes them very difficult to remove from branches."

Apparently, they rarely eat fruit, so this banana feeding is unusual…

Don’t let the proshness fool you of course. Like all of the cutest animals, these guys have some serious teef. And as a bonus, they secrete toxins out their elbows. Cute! [head tilt]

{ 63 comments }

1 TW 03.03.08 at 4:25 pm

They secrete toxins out of their elbows?! I had a girlfriend who did that!

2 Anne 03.03.08 at 4:25 pm

I would like to nomnom his boday

3 Chocolate Chipped 03.03.08 at 4:33 pm

There is nothing cuter than secreting toxins out your elbows.

He is cute though :-) He looks like he’d be uber soft.

4 zeldapie 03.03.08 at 4:39 pm

The tiny peenk tongue in the first pic is so anerable I could SQUEEEEEEEEE!

5 Hon Glad 03.03.08 at 4:41 pm

He looks a softie, just avoid dem elbows.

6 Wincey 03.03.08 at 4:52 pm

Awfully cute! When left to their own devices, lorises only move around at night and sleep during the day, so it’s rare to see one at all. In the zoo, their displays are kept dark so you have to squinch your eyes to see ‘em. Weird to see one as a pet! Never knew about their toxic elbows.

7 Charlie 03.03.08 at 4:53 pm

why is he eating nanas and inside is he poorly? :( I love his little eyes and big fuzzy face.

8 catablob 03.03.08 at 4:57 pm

GAAA.
Look how dinky he is compared to the finger in the picture.
Dinky!
He looks like a drawing out of the Moomintroll series.

9 pyrit 03.03.08 at 5:07 pm

Why I Eyes Ya

10 jules 03.03.08 at 5:26 pm

Out his elbows?! Prosh, but totally weird!

11 lover of cuteoverload 03.03.08 at 5:28 pm

i love this website. it is SO CUTE!!! i always come here to make sure i am not heartless/too punk/too angry (being an adolescent and raised child of two inner punks, as in we don’t dress like it but get to know us and it’s clear). like, penance through extreme squee-ing. i like bunnies especially.

12 Desdemona 03.03.08 at 5:31 pm

Pyrit — LOL! The Slow Loris has a worried look on his face — maybe that’s because we woke him up?

13 Angela P. 03.03.08 at 5:36 pm

He looks so surprised! And kind of sad. I want to snuggle him!

14 lurkingsmirk 03.03.08 at 5:36 pm

He definitely looks a little concerned as he noms his banana. Like he suddenly realized the whole room has gone quiet and everyone is looking at him!

15 gloom raider 03.03.08 at 5:46 pm

So cute! But I’m trying in vain to figure out what the advantage of toxic elbows is. Always getting the armrest in movie theaters? A little extra help during the holiday shopping rush?

16 Loris 03.03.08 at 5:50 pm

YAY!!! YAY!!! A thousand times yay!

It’s a loris!

17 Theo 03.03.08 at 5:50 pm

They’re *wicked* in street basketball, Gloom.

18 M. V. 03.03.08 at 5:52 pm

pyrit..bwahahahaha!

19 WannaSmile 03.03.08 at 5:52 pm

Oh…he’s supah cute! He’s all like, “Oh…hai, I have a banana”.

20 Leah B. 03.03.08 at 5:59 pm

pyrit you strike again you……..

Cute and tiny but dem toxins in my elbows make HUGE in the animal worlds…

21 O'Mufasa 03.03.08 at 6:01 pm

Smyoot smyoot, Muncherroo! ;)

22 Kaya 03.03.08 at 6:02 pm

Such sad eyes!
Ahh…(head tilt)

23 Michelle 03.03.08 at 6:38 pm

Squeee!

For additional slow loris fluffitude: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060731-baby-loris.html

24 r 03.03.08 at 6:50 pm

to answer the elbows question- they put it on their offspring to repel predators. they can also transfer it to their mouth so their bite becomes venomous.

25 Welshcake 03.03.08 at 6:50 pm

Toxic elbows? That’s quite some super power. One for the next series of Heroes?

26 micheyd 03.03.08 at 7:13 pm

I am the bananaman
They are the bananamen
I am the loris!
goo goo g’joob

[Don't talk with your mouth full, it's impolite... - Ed.]

27 Kar 03.03.08 at 7:15 pm

The welcoming committee realized their fatal flaw when they invited the new neighbors, slow loris Morrises, to the community square dance.

28 Theo 03.03.08 at 7:16 pm

Not a problem, Kar. Quick change of plan: TAI CHI

29 Peg of Tilling 03.03.08 at 7:18 pm

So slow lorises can lick their own elbows? How flexible!

30 Mimi 03.03.08 at 7:25 pm

that’s a 3 toed sloth I think

31 pny 03.03.08 at 7:38 pm

Yep, that’s a post to feel good about. A rare animal out of his natural habitat eating food that he doesn’t normally eat and posted on a website for a bunch of gawkers like us to enjoy. ADORABLE.

32 Pearl Ostroff 03.03.08 at 7:40 pm

Peg of Tilling

The toxin dispenser is on the inside of their elbows. That’s easier to lick. I love the comment in the article that the toxin isn’t believed to be harmful to humans. I guess nobody’s tried it.

We humans have some really interesting relatives.

33 berthaslave 03.03.08 at 7:40 pm

The universal animal eating language: nomnomnomnomnom

What about the Fast Loris? I knew a girl named Fast Loris in high school, and by graduation she was secreting some pretty potent toxins herself. “Ol’ Stinky Elbows Fast Loris” we used to call her, I tells ya.

34 charliewabba 03.03.08 at 7:41 pm

wait…
they transfer the toxins from their elbows to their mouths? How??!!!?? That seems sort of inconvenient.
I can’t lick my elbows. Then again, I am not a slow loris.

35 llilly 03.03.08 at 8:22 pm

I hope they aren’t calling him “Slow Loris” at loris school.

36 Kar 03.03.08 at 8:34 pm

I’m waiting for someone to complain about the child abuse.

“They poison their own children!!”

37 Sheenanana 03.03.08 at 9:24 pm

They’re so weirdly cute.

Apparently the smaller species will eat fruit & insects (so pny, kindly shut your banana hole).

38 tank 03.03.08 at 9:33 pm

toxic elbows is better than “cries black xfiles eyes and is annoying in 2 languages”

:D

39 Carrie 03.03.08 at 9:48 pm

Did anyone put up a “Slow Loris” sign in their neighborhood?

40 M. 03.03.08 at 10:03 pm

I just died. Floating over my body and the computer right now… ascending into the clouds where I am being covered by these delightful creatures..!

41 debg 03.03.08 at 10:22 pm

There are slow lorises at the Santa Barbara Zoo and they used to KEELLL me. Ded. They really do move in slow motion. It once took one an hour to crawl across its branch.

42 oakling 03.03.08 at 10:49 pm

I wish I could secrete toxins out of my elbows! It would be so handy, because who really uses them for anything otherwise? Besides bending your arms, I mean.

43 r 03.03.08 at 11:26 pm

go to the wikipedia article on venomous mammals. there are very few; the slow loris is one of probably less than ten.

44 Kim 03.03.08 at 11:28 pm

Wow, that would be great for when you’ve lot armloads full of groceries/kids/whatever and that rude person pushes by you without holding the door open… with the elbow. (no bitterness here…)

45 Kim 03.03.08 at 11:29 pm

I meant JAB with the elbow…the typepad sezs NEGATIVE to my unintentional tags.

46 Barbara 03.04.08 at 12:36 am

I would be so psyched to secrete toxins out of my elbow. That would have come in handy the day the guy groped me on the NYC subway.

47 rocketpants 03.04.08 at 3:09 am

OMG! The feets! The feets!

48 rocketpants 03.04.08 at 3:10 am

ded.

49 Des 03.04.08 at 3:39 am

He’s adorable even when you’re blind drunk, which I am, and he is.

50 amy 03.04.08 at 3:49 am

oh my GOD! He is the cutest since Fluff Hed the baby cheetah. I think my heart just exploded!

51 Subhangi 03.04.08 at 4:15 am

Elbow toxins? Weird, but cool. Will come in great handy for me when I’m taking crowded public transport!

(LOL @ Gloom Raider and Teho)

52 Bry 03.04.08 at 4:24 am

Oh my goodness! I’ve been trying to figure out what this animal was since getting back from South East Asia a couple of weeks ago. I was ambushed by a Thai woman carrying one of these guys. I just wanted to look, but it grabbed onto my finger with its strong little fingers and I couldn’t resist holding it. It’s those EYES! So cute! He/she fell asleep on my chest. I was very sad because I knew it wasn’t happy being passed around all day. It’s nice to finally know what it is though. Here’s a pic of the one I got to hold:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90104782@N00/2309544250/

53 drake 03.04.08 at 4:48 am

has anyone noticed the teensy banana? It in itself is cute.

54 Meaghan 03.04.08 at 8:16 am

Does anyone else think this little guy looks like an ewok?

55 Matt 03.04.08 at 2:59 pm

He’s a hat-wearing party demon at night:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2CISPD0G6DT3Z/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

56 chanpon 03.04.08 at 6:44 pm

You forgot to mention their 3rd form of defense- the dreaded “banana breath”. Don’t get too close, people!!

57 susanreneewa 03.04.08 at 9:25 pm

FINALLY!!! The slow loris is my favorite mammal in the whole wide world. I was mere inches from one during the behind the scenes tour of Woodland Park Zoo. I could spend hoooooooours just watching their little bowling ball butts.

58 Phill 03.04.08 at 9:59 pm

In re Loris, Slow: Awwwww. It’s like an exchange from Cute Overload from a different planet.

In re Pny’s comments: Lame, humorless, meh.

59 Babs 03.05.08 at 3:47 pm

@ chanpon: I think I might rather like banana breath. At least Msr. Loris here doesn’t drink coffee (I think).

60 Darlene 03.06.08 at 1:26 am

Wow – that third picture just killed me! I’ve been tempted to post before, but wow! I don’t think I can come back to this site, there can’t be anything more adorable than that face! By the way, what the heck does “anerable” mean? Is there a guide somewhere to cute overload slang? I can figure out most of the words, but not that one!

61 NOM 03.06.08 at 9:17 am

Uh oh! This is a comma splice: “They’re not meant to be pets, they prefer hangin’ out in the trees.” If you had a semicolon this would be correct! The way to remember is that if both halves of your sentence could be sentences on their own then you should use a semicolon. NOM NOM NOM!!!

62 I love animals 03.15.08 at 3:52 am

OH MY GOSH!
I let my cat see this and you’ll never guess what she did!

She jumped off the couch and licked the screen! SHE LIKEY THE LIL’ MONKEY!

63 Neonshi 04.27.08 at 4:12 pm

The toxins in they’re elbows only activate when its mixed with saliva so the lick there elbows and get the toxins in they’re mouth so don’t let them bite you. The slow loris used to live in Singapore as well.

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