Scientists Feared This Cute but Venomous Primate Had Gone Extinct Nearly 100 Years Ago. It Was Hiding in Plain Sight All Along

The Bangka slow loris is still close to extinction, but new research suggests it continues to survive on a tropical Indonesian island. Conservationists are calling for stronger habitat protections and a breeding program, among other measures

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

November 2, 2026 5:00 p.m.

A small primate that scientists feared might be extinct has been making appearances across an Indonesian island, offering new hope for the elusive species.

The Bangka slow loris was last officially documented by scientists in the 1930s. As a result, in 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified the species as critically endangered—and possibly extinct—on its Red List of Threatened Species.

But a new study published in October in the journal Spixiana shows the Bangka slow loris continues to survive in the wild. Scientists report that a local wildlife organization on Bangka Island, Indonesia, has rescued and re-released dozens of Bangka slow lorises in recent years.

While the species still faces numerous threats, the research suggests it’s not yet extinct—rather, it was simply “overlooked by science for nearly a century,” study co-author Timon Glaw, a conservation biologist at the Haus des Meeres Aqua Terra Zoo in Austria, tells Mongabay’s Naina Rao. Based on the findings, Glaw and colleagues recommend a formal reassessment of the species’ status to remove the “possibly extinct” label.

Diminutive, nocturnal and cryptic, the Bangka slow loris is native to the Indonesian island of Bangka, as well as southwestern Borneo. These creatures have huge eyes, stubby tails, reddish-brown fur and distinctive facial markings. They move slowly through trees, likely feeding on bugs, ⁠tree gums, nectar and other plant parts.

The Bangka slow loris and some other slow loris species have evolved an unusual way of defending themselves: They produce a toxic secretion from glands on their upper arms. When threatened, they lick these glands, mixing the secretion with proteins in their saliva to create venom. They then transfer the toxin to their specialized front teeth, allowing them to deliver a venomous bite when necessary.

“The venom can cause severe allergic reactions in humans, potentially even life-threatening ones,” Glaw tells Reuters’ Will Dunham. “Research on other slow loris species suggests that the venom is used primarily in conflicts with other lorises, although it may also serve defensive functions against predators ​and parasites.”

Quick fact: Two tongues

The Bangka slow loris has two tongues: the main one and another beneath it, reports Reuters. The second tongue helps clean the animal’s forward-projecting bottom teeth, collectively called the toothcomb. It’s primarily used for grooming—but also for its venomous bite.

For decades, scientists didn’t know whether the species continued to survive on Bangka, a tropical island east of Sumatra with more than a million residents. The last scientific paper to mention the Bangka slow loris was published in 1937, although it may have drawn on specimens collected even earlier, between 1930 and 1932.

To better understand the species’ current status, scientists analyzed data collected by the Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center, a nonprofit conservation and rehabilitation facility on Bangka.

Between 2015 and 2025, the center rescued more than 90 Bangka slow lorises, 86 of which were subsequently released. Some of the animals were discovered inside residents’ homes and gardens, while others were found on roads and in palm oil plantations. A handful were rescued from the local wildlife trade or from captivity, while several had suffered electrical burns, fence entanglements or dog attacks.

Just since 2021, the center rescued 43 individuals from locations across the island, including Pangkalpinang, its largest city. This suggests the species is probably more widely distributed in Bangka than previously thought.

Staff and volunteers at the center have been “quietly rescuing, healing and releasing these animals,” Benji Barca, exploration program manager for the global conservation organization Re:wild, says in a statement. It’s thanks to their diligent record-keeping, he adds, that scientists now know the Bangka slow loris continues to persist in the wild.

The study is “another reminder that conservation depends on the knowledge of local communities, Indigenous peoples and others who know these species and landscapes intimately,” says Barca, who wasn’t involved in the study. “A species can disappear from the scientific record without disappearing from the lives of the people who share its home.”

The findings “clearly demonstrate” that the species is not extinct, the researchers write in the paper. However, its long-term survival remains uncertain. The Bangka slow loris’s forest habitat declined by 62 percent between 2000 and 2012, largely due to illegal tin mining and land clearing for palm oil plantations. Human settlements and infrastructure, including roads and power lines, also threaten the species.

In response to these threats, the researchers are calling for stronger protections for the Bangka slow loris’s remaining habitat, along with the establishment of a conservation breeding program. They also recommend conducting population surveys and genetic studies, as well as monitoring the slow lorises’ survival and adaptation after they are released back into the wild.

“Every species is the result of millions of years of evolution and part of a complex ecological network,” Glaw tells Reuters, “and losing the Bangka slow loris would mean losing something truly irreplaceable.”

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