Endangered
Primate Week
The different species of loris are the only venomous primates and they are some of very few venomous mammals. As their name would suggest, they are slow. They are also almost silent as they move around. They are nocturnal which you could probably guess because of their huge eyes. Often they just freeze when threatened, but if they have to defend themselves they will lick venom from glands on their upper arms. A bite from them is very dangerous. Their teeth are sort of serrated, or grooved, which holds the venom. They are incredibly sharp and can go into bone. The venom causes necrosis. Their biggest threat is being sold into pet trade and their teeth are usually removed to make them safer to handle. They are losing habitat as well, which leads to more competition for territory. Interestingly, they aren't immune to their venom and in the wild as well as zoos, many loris will be found to have nasty wounds due to a dispute with another loris.
Well, that's sad. The person upset about an animal I haven't even talked about on Twitter is telling me I need to just worry about my own country. I don't only care about animals in the US, I care about animals all over the world. That is why I specifically did the "Around the World in 80 Days" mini-series as well. I would never want to seem as if I was showing preference for animals in one country, or only holding one country accountable. All over the world people could do better. One saying I have always loved is by Maya Angelou "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." I try to get better at everything I do, parenting, painting, learning, etc.. I also feel that doing something which may feel inconsequential is better than deciding to do nothing. People have a tendency of saying that they won't make an impact, so they don't even try. I would much rather paint animals I will never be able to see, and hopefully help bring awareness to even a few people, than sit at home doing nothing because I can't rescue a species on my own. Maybe someone with money that I absolutely do not have will see my twitter or blog feed, realize an animal they liked as a kid is now endangered, and they can accomplish something great for that animal. I always try to find the positives. It does get difficult sometimes, especially when someone seems to be trying so hard to be angry at you for confusing reasons, but I am not doing this project for others, I'm doing it for the animals.