NEWS - RARE LITTLE PRIMATE FOUND ON SASTRI NAGAR TERRACE

Rare little primate found on Sastri Nagar terrace

A Selvaraj, TNN Jul 31, 2011

CHENNAI: Forest department officials rescued a slender loris, a rare primate normally found in dense tropical rainforests of south India and parts of Sri Lanka, from a house in Sastri Nagar, Adyar.
The rare one-year-old animal is now at the forest range office in Velachery. A few days ago, a cat-eyed snake was found in a parcel destined for Slovakia at a courier company in Nungambakkam.
On Friday, the animal was spotted by the wife of a businessman, Kannan. She had gone to the terrace to hang out clothes to dry. As she was going about her work, she suddenly noticed the animal sitting at the far end of the terrace. Screaming with fear, she called out to her husband. Upon hearing her screams, Kannan immediately ran to the terrace.

Soon, Kannan called the police, who in turn alerted the forest officials. The forest officials rescued the animal and kept it safely at their office in Velachery.
Forest ranger Dr S David Raj said, "We will release it in the forest in a couple of days. The animal may have crossed the forest borders in search of food and finally landed on the terrace of the house. We are feeding it a few insects. A veterinary doctor will also inspect the animal to check its condition."
"It sprays its urine all over its body to attract small insects. It normally lives in dense forests hanging on the barks of the trees. The Theosophical Society in Adyar, very close to Sastri Nagar, has a huge forest and the animal may have come from there," he added.
Forest officials say the slender loris prefer thick, thorny vegetation wherein they can easily escape predators and find insects, the mainstay of their diet,to eat. They also eat slugs, young leaves, flowers, shoots, and occasionally eggs and nestlings.
Another forest official said, "The slender loris is about the size of a chipmunk, with long, pencil-thin arms and legs. It is about 15–25 cm long and has a small, vestigial tail. The round head is dominated by two large, closely set, saucer-like brown eyes. They flank a long nose which ends in a heartshaped knob. The eyes are surrounded by dark-brown to black circles of fur. The ears are large and round. Its coat is light red-brown or gray-brown on its back and dirty white on its chest and belly. The second digit on the hand and foot are very short. They move on the same plane as the thumb, which helps them grasp branches and twigs."