ArticleThe journal of venomous animals and toxins including tropical diseases2013
Mad, bad and dangerous to know: the biochemistry, ecology and evolution of slow loris venom.
Article in The journal of venomous animals and toxins including tropical diseases, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 204 citations in OpenAlex.
- Locomotion, Postures, and Substrate Use in Captive Southern Pygmy Slow Lorises (Strepsirrhini, Primates): Implications for Conservation.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Illegal Hunting of the IUCN-Listed Endangered Bengal Slow Loris (Nycticebus bengalensis): An Escalating Threat to Its Extinction.Veterinary medicine and science · 2025Article
- The role of primate-specific genes in the phenotypic evolution of lorises.Current zoology · 2025Article
- A review of the venom microbiome and its utility in ecology and evolution including future directions for emerging research.Symbiosis (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Article
- Anaphylaxis following a slow loris bite occurring in an area of forest fragmentation.BMJ case reports · 2024Article
- Proteins from shrews' venom glands play a role in gland functioning and venom production.Zoological letters · 2024Article
- Evaluating the Use of Chemical Weapons for Capturing Prey by a Venomous Mammal, the Greater Slow Loris (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Review
- Article
- Molecular Epidemiology ofAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Functional genomics analysis reveals the evolutionary adaptation and demographic history of pygmy lorises.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Shrew's venom quickly causes circulation disorder, analgesia and hypokinesia.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2022Article
- Oral and fecal microbiome of confiscated Bengal slow lorises in response to confinement duration.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Slow loris (Nycticebus borneanus) consumption by a wild Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii).Primates; journal of primatology · 2022Article
- Monkeying around with venom: an increased resistance to α-neurotoxins supports an evolutionary arms race between Afro-Asian primates and sympatric cobras.BMC biology · 2021Article
- Behavioral Changes of Solitary Housed Female Pygmy Slow Lorises (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Aposematic signaling and seasonal variation in dorsal pelage in a venomous mammal.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Molecular diagnosis in cat allergy.World journal of methodology · 2021Review
- Examining the molecular basis of coat color in a nocturnal primate family (Lorisidae).Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Only seven types of mammals are known to be venomous, including slow lorises (Nycticebus spp.). Despite the evolutionary significance of this unique adaptation amongst Nycticebus, the structure and function of slow loris venom is only just beginning to be understood. Here we review what is known about the chemical structure of slow loris venom. Research on a handful of captive samples from three of eight slow loris species reveals that the protein within slow loris venom resembles the disulphide-bridged heterodimeric structure of Fel-d1, more commonly known as cat allergen. In a comparison of N. pygmaeus and N. coucang, 212 and 68 compounds were found, respectively. Venom is activated by combining the oil from the brachial arm gland with saliva, and can cause death in small mammals and anaphylactic shock and death in humans. We examine four hypotheses for the function of slow loris venom. The least evidence is found for the hypothesis that loris venom evolved to kill prey. Although the venom's primary function in nature seems to be as a defense against parasites and conspecifics, it may also serve to thwart olfactory-orientated predators. Combined with numerous other serpentine features of slow lorises, including extra vertebra in the spine leading to snake-like movement, serpentine aggressive vocalisations, a long dark dorsal stripe and the venom itself, we propose that venom may have evolved to mimic cobras (Naja sp.). During the Miocene when both slow lorises and cobras migrated throughout Southeast Asia, the evolution of venom may have been an adaptive strategy against predators used by slow lorises as a form of Müllerian mimicry with spectacled cobras.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.