Loris
April 28, 2010 - 12:00 am
Anna Nekaris, Oxford Brookes University, UK.
So far this week it seems that only
insects, scorpions and other “icky” animals seem to be poisonous. Today
we are going to change all of that by taking a trip to India and
Southeast Asia to learn about the “clown” of the primate world, the Slow
Loris. I say this animal is a clown since Loris means “clown” or
“simpleton” in dutch.
The slow loris is a rather peculiar animal
with their big eyes and variety of calls including hisses, buzzes and
loud whistles. For the purpose of this weeks fact though we will talk
about their unique venom they are capable of producing. This primate
has sebaceous glands located in the crook of their elbow. When this
clown is about to bite into its prey they will lick these glands coating
their teeth with a poison. Once they bite into their unfortunate prey
this poison will cause the bite site to itch, swell and ache for days.
Let this be a warning that not all primates are friendly and fun. I
don’t think you would want to get bit by this little guy. The slow loris
will also coat their babies with this poison if they have to leave them
alone for any amount of time. This is a very interesting technique to
ensure that nothing attacks your children. Instead of getting a
babysitter the next time you go out, just spread harmful poison on your
kids. Not only will your kids be safe from predators but you just saved
yourself some money by not having to hire that pesky 14 year old
babysitter.
My babysitter analogy may seem a little
far-fetched (and it was meant to), however, it is interesting to know
that the slow loris is actually a very distant relative of humans. So
go ahead and give the crooks of your elbows a good lick to see if you
have any poison left. Don’t worry, I won’t judge you if you actually
did this.
I hope you enjoyed learning that even cute
animals can be venomous. Make sure you come back tomorrow for another
Dangerous Wild Fact.
No comments:
Post a Comment