Thought Extinct Since the 1930s
The Bangka slow loris, a venomous nocturnal primate that moves slowly through the trees, has for decades been known only from old scientific records. The species, with the Latin name Nycticebus bancanus, was last documented in scientific literature in the 1930s, until the IUCN Red List recorded it as critically endangered and possibly extinct.
New reports have emerged from a study published in the journal Spixiana in October 2026. The research concluded that the Bangka slow loris is still alive on Bangka Island, an island off the southeastern coast of Sumatra, after nearly a century without reliable scientific evidence.
90 Documented, 86 Released into the Wild
The study draws on records from the Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center, an animal rescue center in Indonesia, which encountered more than 90 individual Bangka slow lorises between 2015 and 2025. The animals were found at various locations across Bangka Island, from residents' gardens to roadsides and power lines.
Of that number, 86 were recovered and released into the wild at seven locations on the island. The wide spread of these findings indicates the species persists in several remaining forest pockets, even as its habitat continues to be eroded.
Habitat Shrinks Due to Mining and Palm Oil
Researchers say the habitat of the Bangka slow loris is shrinking due to illegal tin mining and land clearing for oil palm plantations. Human settlements, roads and power lines also pose threats, while the slow loris is also hunted for the pet trade in Asia.
Director of the Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center, Langka Sani, said his team was pleased to contribute to the scientific record by showing that the Bangka slow loris is not extinct, but the species remains very close to extinction. The statement underscored that this discovery is not the end of the story, but rather the beginning of a rescue effort.
New Hope for a Forgotten Species
One of the study's authors, Timon Glaw from Haus des Meeres Aqua Terra Zoo in Vienna, Austria, said the discovery also offers hope for other species thought to be extinct. He considered it astonishing that this charismatic primate had received almost no scientific attention for nearly a century, even though Bangka is only about an hour's flight from Jakarta.
Glaw called for next steps including population surveys, genetic studies, and protection of remaining habitat. For the conservation world, the return of the Bangka slow loris to the scientific radar is rare news amid an extinction crisis: a species written off as lost turns out to still be holding on, waiting to be protected.
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