This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A big-eyed, venomous primate that had not been documented in scientific literature since the 1930s has been hiding in plain sight on the Indonesian island of Bangka, turning up in backyards, along roadsides and on power lines and prompting local residents who find them to call the Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center for help. A new study published in the scientific journal Spixiana confirms that the Bangka slow loris, one of Re:wild's most wanted lost primates, still survives across much of the island.
The evidence comes from more than 90 Bangka slow lorises that Alobi rescued between 2015 and 2025. The Alobi center co-authored the published study with the Haus des Meeres Aqua Terra Zoo in Vienna and the Taman Safari Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark. The study's publication coincides with the celebration of Lost Species Month in October.
The Bangka slow loris is classified as critically endangered (possibly extinct) by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Although scientists had not documented the species in nearly a century, it was never lost to the people of Bangka. For more than a decade, Alobi has been rescuing slow lorises reported by residents and local authorities across the island, caring for the animals and returning those that recover to protected forest.
Until now, those encounters had not made their way into the scientific literature. The study began with a conversation in Java. While visiting the Taman Safari Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark, study co-author Timon Glaw of the Haus des Meeres Aqua Terra Zoo learned from conservationist Jochen Menner that the Bangka slow loris was listed as critically endangered (possibly extinct) by the IUCN Red List and was among Re:wild's most wanted lost primates.
Menner connected him with Alobi, where he learned that the rescue center had something the scientific record did not: documented encounters with the species. That discovery brought Alobi, Haus des Meeres Aqua Terra Zoo and the Taman Safari Prigen Conservation Breeding Ark together to analyze the records and publish the new study. "We are glad to contribute to the scientific record to show that the Bangka slow loris is not lost, but the species is still very close to extinction," said Langka Sani, director of the Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center.
"Its natural habitat on Bangka Island has shrunk significantly because of illegal tin mining and massive land clearing for oil palm plantations. We ask people around the world to support us in saving the Bangka slow loris while we still can." According to the study, Alobi rescued Bangka slow lorises in all four regencies of Bangka Island and in the city of Pangkal Pinang, which suggests the species may still live across much of the island. Of the more than 90 slow lorises Alobi rescued, 86 recovered and were released at seven sites on Bangka.
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