Slow lorises use venom as a weapon in intraspecific competition.

Animals have evolved an array of spectacular weapons, including antlers, forceps, proboscises, stingers, tusks and horns [1]. Weapons can be present in males and females of species needing to defend critical limiting resources, including food (rhinoceros beetles, Trypoxylus) and territories (fang blennies, Meiacanthus) [1-3]. Chemicals, including sprays, ointments and injected venoms, are another defence system used by animals. As with morphological weapons, venom can serve multiple purposes, including to facilitate feeding, in predation, and in defence when attacked [4]. Although rare, several taxa use venom for agonistic intraspecific competition (e.g. ghost shrimp, Caprella spp.; sea anemones, Actinia equina; cone snails, Conidae; male platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus) [4-6]. Another group of venomous mammals are the nocturnal slow lorises (Nycticebus) [7]. Slow loris bites often result in dramatic diagnostic wounds characterised by necrotic gashes to the head and extremities. Although these bites are the major cause of death of lorises in captivity, the function of this aggressive behaviour has never been studied in the wild [7]. Here, through an 8-year study of wounding patterns, territorial behaviour, and agonistic encounters of a wild population of Javan slow lorises (Nycticebus javanicus), we provide strong evidence that venom is used differentially by both sexes to defend territories and mates. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Changes in the primate trade in indonesian wildlife markets over a 25-year period: Fewer apes and langurs, more macaques, and slow lorises.

Indonesia has amongst the highest primate species richness, and many species are included on the country's protected species list, partially to prevent over-exploitation. Nevertheless traders continue to sell primates in open wildlife markets especially on the islands of Java and Bali. We surveyed 13 wildlife markets in 2012-2014 and combined our results with previous surveys from 1990-2009 into a 122-survey dataset with 2,424 records of 17 species. These data showed that the diversity of species in trade decreased over time, shifting from rare rainforest-dwelling primates traded alongside more widespread species that are not confined to forest to the latter type only. In the 1990s and early 2000s orangutans, gibbons and langurs were commonly traded alongside macaques and slow lorises but in the last decade macaques and slow lorises comprised the bulk of the trade. In 2012-2014 we monitored six wildlife markets in Jakarta, Bandung and Garut (all on Java), and Denpasar (Bali). During 51 surveys we recorded 1,272 primates of eight species. Traders offered long-tailed macaque (total 1,007 individuals) and three species of slow loris (228 individuals) in five of the six markets, whereas they traded ebony langurs (18 individuals), and pig-tailed macaques (14 individuals) mostly in Jakarta. Pramuka and Jatinegara markets, both in Jakarta, stood out as important hubs for the primate trade, with a clear shift in importance over time from the former to the latter. Slow lorises, orangutans, gibbons and some langurs are protected under Indonesian law, which prohibits all trade in them; of these protected species, only the slow lorises remained common in trade throughout the 25-year period. Trade in non-protected macaques and langurs is subject to strict regulations-which market traders did not follow-making all the market trade in primates that we observed illegal. Trade poses a substantial threat to Indonesian primates, and without enforcement, the sheer volume of trade may mean that species of Least Concern or Near Threatened may rapidly decline. Am. J. Primatol. 79:e22517, 2017. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

First Ecological Study of the Bawean Warty Pig (Sus blouchi), One of the Rarest Pigs on Earth.

The Bawean warty pig (Sus blouchi) is an endemic pig species confined to the 192 km(2) large island of Bawean in the Java Sea, Indonesia. Due to a lack of quantitative ecological research, understanding of natural history and conservation requirements have so far been based solely on anecdotal information from interviews with local people and study of captive and museum specimens. In this study we provide the first assessment of population and habitat preferences for S. blouchi by using camera trapping. From the 4th of November 2014 to January 8th 2015, we placed camera traps at 100 locations in the forested protected areas on Bawean. In 690.31 camera days (16567.45 hours) we captured 92 independent videos showing S. blouchi. Variation in S. blouchi trapping rates with cumulative trap effort stabilized after 500 camera days. An important outcome is that, in contrast to the suggestion of previous assessments, only S. blouchi was detected and no S. scrofa was found, which excludes hybridization threats. We fitted a Random Encounter Model, which does not require the identification of individual animals, to our camera-trapping data and estimated 172-377 individuals to be present on the island. Activity patterns and habitat data indicate that S. blouchi is mainly nocturnal and prefers community forests and areas near forest borders. Next to this, we found a positive relationship between S. blouchi occupancy, distance to nearest border, litter depth and tree density in the highest ranking occupancy models. Although these relationships proved non-significant based on model averaging, their presence in the top ranking models suggests that these covariables do play a role in predicting S. blouchi occurrence on Bawean. The estimated amount of sites occupied reached 58%. Based on our results, especially the estimation of the population size and area of occupancy, we determine that the species is Endangered according to the IUCN/SSC Red List criteria.

The largest relative testis size among primates and aseasonal reproduction in a nocturnal lemur, Mirza zaza.

OBJECTIVES: Testis size is an indirect indicator of a species' mating system, along with sexual size and canine dimorphism, existence and usage of mating and advertisement calls as well as the spatial distribution of males and females ready to mate in solitary species. Upon its recent discovery, the northern giant mouse lemur Mirza zaza was suggested to have a polygynandrous mating system and to exhibit seasonal breeding. We tested these predictions in a field study in Sahamalaza National Park, NW Madagascar. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We caught 12 M. zaza, before and during the suggested mating period and obtained standard field morphometric measurements, including testes size. RESULTS: We show that M. zaza has the highest relative testis volume among primates, indicating strong sperm competition and polygynandrous mating. In addition, based on inferred age of captured animals, observed mating behavior, a female caught in met-estrus and data from captivity, we suggest M. zaza to be one of the few lemurs that breed aseasonally. DISCUSSION: Future field work on this endangered species is required to illuminate the causes and consequences of intense promiscuity and aseasonal breeding despite strong habitat seasonality, which distinguish M. zaza from most other nocturnal lemurs.