J for Javan Slow Loris
Slow lorises are beautiful, huge-eyed creatures that live in Indonesian forests in Java. Less than a foot long, they don’t jump through the trees like lemurs or monkeys, but climb slowly using lianas and vines to get from tree to tree. They eat fruit, eggs, lizards, tree gum and chocolate seeds, are seen alone or in pairs, but at night sometimes sleep in groups.
They are very vulnerable because of their slow habit – and the fact that instead of sleeping hidden in a hole, they sleep out in the open on branches in the daytime (they are nocturnal). Despite being protected, the laws are not well enforced and they are collected for pets and to be turned into traditional medicines.
They are kept in terrible conditions on top of one another in tiny cages, not given the correct foods, and many die.
They are classified by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Endangered due to the reasons above and also loss of habitat.
Javan Slow Loris
Slow Loris love forests
and roam cultivations
of bamboos and mangroves
and chocolate plantations,
eat seeds, fruit and tree gum
as so slowly they climb
through flowing braid ropes
of liana and vine,
if only they knew
as they trustingly creep
they must find a safe place
in the daytime to sleep.
All material, illustration and poem © Liz Brownlee
This post is copyright material with all rights reserved, please do not re-post elsewhere – you may link to it.
More information about the slow loris here: Wikipedia.
If you would like to blog hop to another A-Z Challenge, click here: A-Z Challenge.
- Posted in: A-Z Blog Challenge 2012 - A-Z of Amazing threatened Animals!
- Tagged: animal, beautiful, chocolate, endangered, Forests, Indonesia, Java, magic, poetry, Slow loris
lizbrownlee - poet 
Yes – joke lost on me too. I’m not British. Great article/poem/pic though.
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Joke went right over my head, too. Lorises are cute, though; there were a couple featured on an O’Reilly Unix book, but I can’t remember which.
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John and Sally – neither of you missed the joke – I took the joke verse away, left the others and also left the comment about the joke on the blog when I first posted it… the joke is on me! I’ve since removed the comment – so none of this will make any sense to anyone who reads hereafter!
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Thanks for stopping by my blog. I like your poem. =)
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Thank you Roza!
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A very good poem and post. This post should hit close to home for everyone who cares about the other animals in this world.
Good luck with the challenge!
Dianna Fielding
Sociologyfornerds.com
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Thanks, Dianna – hopefully education will help people there know more about them – often they take them as pets, as they are so cute, not realising their need for a specialised diet and the fact that they smell truly terrible!
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Thank you Dianna! Are you doing the challenge too? Actually, I’ll se in a minute when I look at your blog!
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i dont know what the joke is but those creatures sound so cute.
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Hi Pammy, they certainly are gorgeous creatures.
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