Venomous Mammals
Slow Lori
The slow lori is a mammal, and part of the strepsirrhini suborder. There are eight different species in total, which are all endangered or at risk of extinction. These animals live in the forests of South-East Asia, and grow to be around 15.3 inches (39 cm) tall and weigh 4.4 pounds (2 kg).
Venom Glands
They have venom glands on the insides of their elbows. This means that the slow loris isn’t a poisonous animal, but a venomous one. It uses its fingers to spread the venom into its mouth and onto its bottom front teeth. This gives them a venomous bite.
Why Do Slow Loris Use Venom?
But why do they need the venom? They don’t use it to kill prey. As bad as it sounds: they cover their babies with it! This protects their little ones from attackers, who don’t like the taste.
Could a Slow Lori Venom Kill a Human?
Is being bitten by a slow lori dangerous? Well, you definitely don’t want to get too close to their “poison fangs”! First of all, a bite will cause a lot of pain. But the poison that is transferred into the open wound is worse. People that are allergic (like how some people are allergic to bee stings) can even go into shock and die.
The Selfie Animal
There are many people that love slow lorises simply because they’re so cute. These animals are also super calm and trusting (as long as you don’t upset them). So lots of tourists on vacation want to pet a slow loris and - even more importantly - take a selfie with one of these animals.
These small primates are often seen as “living toys” for kids. To make sure nothing bad happens during these petting sessions, the animals are drugged to make them calm. Their teeth are even sometimes clipped to make them dull, or even pulled out. The wounds often get infected and it’s not unusual for this to kill the animals.
The slow lori isn't the only "selfie animal." Things are similar for the quokka, a short-tailed wallaby. Find our quokka fact sheet here!
- Table of Contents:
- 0. Introduction
- 1. Slow Lori
- 2. Platypus
- 3. Short Tailed Shrew
- 4. Eurasian Water Shrew
- 5. Solenodon
