In 2021, rescuers on Indonesia’s Bangka Island saved 43 Bangka slow lorises, including animals found near homes, roads and plantations. Their work offers a clear answer to a question scientists had struggled to settle: the small, venomous primate has not disappeared.
The Bangka slow loris, known by its scientific name Nycticebus bancanus, lives on Bangka and parts of Borneo. It was listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct on the IUCN Red List in 2015. The last record in scientific writing dated to around 1937. People had reported seeing lorises in the years since, but those sightings had not appeared in published scientific studies.
A new study brings together evidence from more than 90 lorises rescued by the Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center, a local nonprofit. Residents contacted the group after finding animals in backyards, along roadsides and in plantations. Researchers examined the rescued animals and mapped where many had been found, turning reports from local communities into evidence of the species’ continued presence.
The 2021 rescues show that lorises are spread across Bangka, not confined to a single remote spot. Alobi mapped 39 of the 43 animals rescued that year, with records from all four districts, including Pangkalpinang, the island’s largest city.
For Timon Glaw, a study co-author and graduate student in nature conservation and biodiversity management at Vienna’s Haus des Meeres Aqua Terra Zoo, the discovery was striking. “What surprised me the most was that such a distinctive and fascinating primate could remain almost completely overlooked by science for nearly a century,” he said. The research was carried out with colleagues from Alobi and Indonesia’s Taman Safari Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark.
The animals’ survival, however, does not mean they are safe. Between 2000 and 2012, loris forest habitat on Bangka fell by 62%, the study says. Alobi director and co-author Langka Sani said illegal tin mining and large-scale clearing for oil palm plantations have sharply reduced natural habitat.
Daily hazards add to the pressure. In 2021, seven rescued lorises had electrical burns from power lines. Others were hurt in vehicle collisions, attacked by domestic dogs or caught in fences. At least three died. Since 2015, 86 lorises that recovered after rescue have been released into the island’s remaining protected forest fragments.
The authors say the findings show Nycticebus bancanus is “not yet extinct” and urge a formal review of its Red List status to remove the possibly extinct label. They also call for protected habitat, tracking animals after release and a conservation breeding program. Glaw said protecting the last natural areas, along with Bangka’s threatened freshwater ecosystems, could help other little-known species too. For now, the rescues make one point plain: the loris is still here, and its future depends on protecting the places where it can live.