The second anniversary of the Loris watching

"...he will be our friend for always and always and always" - Rudyard Kipling

Jetwing Vil Uyana resident naturalist Chaminda Jayasekara first heard the unmistakable high pitched whistle of a Grey Slender Loris back in July 2010 with the call coming from within the forested area which was inaccessible at the time. After reporting the finding, a nature trail was created and a pathway was cut through the forest over the next few months.

"I started the trail at 7.30pm with a special red light emitting torch which does not harm the sensitive eyes of the loris. After 10 minutes, suddenly I could see one red-eye but I did not pay more attention to it at first as usually both eyes glow brightly. But, after a few seconds, I could see that this was indeed a Loris, moving around a tree about 2 metres up from the ground. This particular individual must have had an eye problem as for the entire duration of a 10 minute sighting, as I could only see one red-eye", recalls Chaminda on his first sighting which occurred on October 20, 2010. This was soon followed by regular sightings of the Loris along the nature trail and Jetwing Vil Uyana soon began to offer special nocturnal Loris watching tours, the first of its kind in the country, and to date over 200 successful excursions have been run.

On May 31, in another breakthrough sighting a baby loris was observed on the back of its mother for the first time, indicating that the loris are now residing and breeding within the scrub thickets and forested habitats of the hotel. Chaminda's observations over the past two years have enabled him to identify at least seven individual Loris, and the nature trail has recently been declared as a Loris Conservation Site by Jetwing. In August this year, to further increase awareness and conservation efforts, a Loris Information Centre was opened displaying facts and a wide array of images of this widely misunderstood and elusive creatures.

The Grey Slender Loris along with the Red Loris, Toque Macaque, Grey Langur and the Purple-faced Leaf Monkey is one of the five species of primates found in Sri Lanka. The subspecies is endemic to Sri Lanka, and is threatened with habitat destruction across its range. Through the Jetwing Research Initiative which has over the years supported studies on the Sri Lankan Leopard, Dragonflies and Primates, Chaminda hopes that his ongoing research can identify behavioral characteristics as well as threats faced by the Grey Slender Loris in Sri Lanka and use his findings to promote loris watching for the tourism industry; thus aiding the conservation of the species and its habitats.