THE NIGHT WATCHER

Reverse mythical beliefs to save the nocturnal hunter of Western Ghats

- K A SHAJI

When you hear the name “grey slender loris”, your mind might leap to the flamboyant King Julien from the 2005 movie Madagascar, or his wide-eyed sidekick Mort. The link is understandable, but misleading: Julien and Mort belong to the lemur family of Madagascar, while the grey slender loris is a very different primate found only in southern India and Sri Lanka.

Yet this mix-up reveals a fascinating truth—lemurs and lorises, though far apart geographically, may share a common ancestor. Their evolutionary link is even cited as evidence for the continental drift theory, which says that Earth’s landmasses once formed a single supercontinent.

Despite such evident scientific importance, the grey slender loris sees little recognition beyond southern India.

The primate inhabits landscapes from the wet evergreen forests of Wayanad to the dry scrublands in Tamil Nadu. In Tamil folklore, the loris is called