Reproduction

Slow lorises are dioecious (separate males and females), polygamous, and reproduce all year round. At the age of 17-21 months, females are sexually mature and able to reproduce. The males can reproduce as early as 10 months.

The mating duration of slow lorises is about 3-7 minutes on average. Following conception, there is about a 6 month gestation period (average is 191 days) followed by delivery of usually only one, possibly two, offspring. These offspring are placental and are completely developed by the time they are born. There is about a 16 month span that takes place between each birth in a female loris.

A slow loris is born with its eyes open and already has the strength and ability to hold onto branches. Following birth, it will stay with its mother everyday for about 7 weeks. The baby slow loris clings to the stomach of the mother wherever she goes, except for when she is searching for food. When the mother goes out in search of food, she cleans her babies first. This is not a normal cleaning though; venom from the mother mixes with saliva and gets spread on the young, which will keep them safe if a predator finds them.

 It will nurse for about 6 months, but it is able to eat solid food within 4 weeks following birth. Infants grow and can crawl through the trees by the age of 2 weeks.

In less that a year, an adolescent slow loris is able to fend for itself and has not developed any sexual dimorphism (differences between genders) by weight.

 
As a loris grows older, it can show some sexual dimorphism with males being slightly heavier than the females. On average, Nycticebus coucang grow to be about 15 inches long, have 1 inch vestigial tails, and can weight about 3 pounds. They have the ability to live to 20 years of age, and can slightly exceed that age in captivity.

To see how this organism interacts with other animals, see Interactions!

To see how other organisms reproduce, see MultipleOrganisms.net!

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