The five species of Asian slow lorises (Nycticebus spp.) were transferred to CITES Appendix I in 2007 and researchers are finally undertaking systematic studies of the threats to this group. Many surveys have now been conducted throughout the species' ranges, revealing that in most areas slow lorises occur at very low densities. In Cambodia the larger of its two species, N. bengalensis, has been nearly extirpated, and its smaller species, N. pygmaeus, is in decline, mainly because of use in traditional medicines. Although researchers have long reported dried loris skins in Indo–Chinese markets, no quantitative reports had been available. Interviews with practitioners, hunters and retailers of traditional medicines reveal that lorises are believed to cure 100 diseases. Users feel that medicines that include loris parts cure diseases whereas western medicines only alleviate symptoms. However, although this medicinal trade is a grave problem it is not the one that has caught the world's attention.
The trade in pet lorises has been cited as a key threat to their decline. The species noted as hardest hit is the Javan slow loris N. javanicus, which was included on Conservation International's biennial list of the World's 25 Most Endangered Primates in both 2008 and 2010. Long-term data on loris trade, rescue and rehabilitation from Java, Indonesia, reveal the impact. Cutting of teeth by traders, inability of reintroduced animals to survive in the wild, and lack of enforcement of animal protection laws were clarified as key threats, and are representative of the region in general.
In 2009 the threat of the pet trade to slow lorises was highlighted at a global level when a YouTube video of a pet pygmy slow loris being tickled went viral, achieving nearly 15 million hits by 2012. Pet slow lorises on YouTube were nothing new: before 2009 a survey of YouTube and FlipClip found 75 videos of loris pets. The worrying aspect of the tickling video was the immediate reaction of the thousands of commenters, one in 10 of whom indicated they would like a loris as a pet.
For 3 years various animal rights groups petitioned YouTube to remove the video, which shows a highly overweight loris in a brightly lit room on a bed with no substrates to grasp, tagging it as animal abuse. The video remained and YouTube refused to comment. Although the owners of the animal in the video claimed that in Russia it is legal to own lorises as pets, other groups pointed out that only 12 pygmy lorises had ever been legally imported into Russia, and these had been for scientific or zoo-breeding purposes, thus questioning the legality of Russian breeding facilities for lorises. The zoo community pointed to the low reproductive rate in captivity, and the small worldwide captive population, all indicating an illegal origin for most of the loris pets seen in videos.
On 25 January 2012 the UK-based BBC Natural History Unit aired a programme in its Natural World series entitled The Jungle Gremlins of Java. Although principally a film about the ecology of the Javan slow loris the film highlighted the tickling video, and showed nearly 10 minutes of footage of animal markets in Indonesia offering for illegal sale more than 30 slow lorises of three species, but mainly Javan slow lorises. The reaction was immediate.
Within the next 2 weeks more than 1,500 comments appeared on the main YouTube video. Rather than wanting one as a pet the public outcry had turned to conservation, informing viewers of the cruel trade, the removal of teeth for use in medicines, and the death usually faced by animals in markets; viewers also implored those responsible for uploading the video to remove it. On 9 February, after 3 years and being one of the most popular animal videos on YouTube, the main video was removed.
Many copies of the video remain on YouTube, however. Whether YouTube videos of threatened species as pets imperils them and encourages their trade is difficult to quantify. The case of the slow loris illustrates, however, how providing the public with correct information on threatened species can have immediate and direct impact on attitudes and opinions.
