Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 4 hrs ago
More than 90 Bangka slow lorises rescued in Indonesia since 2015
The Bangka slow loris still survives on Indonesia’s Bangka Island, despite having no scientific records since the 1930s.
From 2015 to 2025, the Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center rescued more than 90 of the critically endangered primates and released 86 into forests on the island.
The center’s records, published in a study in October 2026, show the animals were found across Bangka, suggesting the species may live across much of the island.
Many face dangers linked to people, including roads, electric shocks, captivity and plantations.
The loris is listed as Critically Endangered and possibly extinct, and its remaining habitat is at risk.
Researchers say long-term conservation needs population surveys, genetic studies and habitat protection.
The long-term survival of released animals is unknown, so researchers want future releases monitored.
The Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center rescued more than 90 Bangka slow lorises on Indonesia’s Bangka Island between 2015 and 2025.
The center released 86 of the animals into forests on the island.
The rescue records show the critically endangered species has survived in several parts of Bangka despite decades without scientific records.
The center’s records were published in October 2026 in a study with partners from zoos in Austria and Indonesia.
How many released lorises survived over the long term is unknown because there are no follow-up data.
- Who
- The Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center rescued the lorises, working with partners from zoos in Austria and Indonesia on the study.
- What
- More than 90 Bangka slow lorises were rescued, and 86 were released into forests.
- When
- The rescues took place between 2015 and 2025. The records were published in October 2026.
- Where
- Bangka Island, Indonesia.
- Why
- The center’s records document the species’ survival and support calls for long-term conservation and habitat protection.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The Bangka slow loris was described from Kelabat Bay on Bangka.
The IUCN Red List gives this as the year the loris was last recorded.
The Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center rescued more than 90 Bangka slow lorises.
The center’s rescue records were published in a study with partners from zoos in Austria and Indonesia.
- Rescued
- More than 90 Bangka slow lorises
- Rescue period
- 2015–2025
- Released
- 86 animals
- Largest release site
- Bukit Mangkol forest park received 37 animals
- Other major release sites
- Permisan nature park received 22; Mount Menumbing area received 15
- Species status
- Critically Endangered, and possibly extinct, on the IUCN Red List
What people are saying
The team at Alobi has spent more than a decade quietly rescuing, healing and releasing these animals, and their careful records are what have finally now brought this primate back into scientific view
We now know the species has survived in several parts of Bangka, and we urgently need a long-term conservation strategy built on population surveys, genetic studies and, above all, protection of its remaining habitat
The next challenge is to make sure it does not actually become extinct