Trialling Exudate-Based Enrichment Efforts to Improve the Welfare of Rescued Slow Lorises Nycticebus spp.

Because lorises are venomous, many have their teeth inhumanely removed by animal traders in order to ‘tame’ them to live as pets or to be used for tourist photography. Confiscated animals are brought to rescue centres where captive care and rehabilitation has proven challenging.

Many rescue centres report high mortality, high rates of abnormal behaviour, and low rates of successful reintroductions. Most centres, however, provide little or no gums or saps to these highly specialised exudativorous primates. Our study evaluated the effects of exudatebased enrichment efforts on confiscated wild-born slow lorises at a rescue centre in Java, Indonesia, including methods to provide exudates to animals lacking teeth.