June 24, 2011

by Sarah Zehr, PhD, Research Manager at the Duke Lemur Center

Lazy Loris award winner putting his foot down and refusing to participate in research

We had three pygmy slow loris births in 2010 and now have a total of 10 animals of this species, yet not a single one was used in research in 2010.  In this case, it may simply be attributable to the fact that pygmy slow lorises are notoriously uncooperative (even though all our research is non-invasive), and for that I am awarding them the Lazy Loris award of 2010.  But they are not the only ones to blame, I suppose.  I will do my best to promote them and their increasing numbers to the research community, and hopefully we will see their use increase in 2011.  On the upside, perhaps it was because they had so much free time on their hands that the pygmy slow lorises bred so successfully last year.