On Monday 7 May, researchers from Oxford Brookes University’s Nocturnal Primate Research Group held a conference on conservation and ecology of nocturnal primates, starring lorises, galagos and pottos. The proceedings were opened by Professor Emeritus Simon Bearder, exiting president of the Primate Society of Great Britain, who in 2018 is celebrating 50 years since he began his seminal studies of galagos in South Africa.
Visiting scholars from Sichuan Agricultural University Dr Ni Qingyong and from Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust Dr Elizabeth Pimley contributed their work on slow lorises and pottos. The key note speaker, Dr Muhammad Ali Imron from Faculty of Forestry at Universitas Gadjah Mada, presented new pathways to collaboration and discussed the vital importance of cultural understanding for conserving nocturnal primates and other wildlife. Topics ranged from slow loris venom, galago species identification, niche partitioning in African nocturnal primates, illegal trade in lemurs, impact of social media on nocturnal primate conservation (especially selfies),infant development and dispersal in slow lorises, to new developments in the study of slow loris venom. Many of these works will feature in a new book edited by Prof Anna Nekaris and Dr Annie Burrows on the Evolution, Ecology and Conservation of Lorises and Pottos for Cambridge University Press. PROF ANNA NEKARIS
