Slow lorises became viral sensations on social media, driving demand for the pet trade. The welfare consequences are severe - tooth removal, capture trauma, and inability to express natural behaviors.
Slow loris welfare has become a case study in how social media can inadvertently drive species toward extinction. Viral videos showing lorises raising their arms when stroked were shared as 'cute' content - but the arm-raising posture is a defensive behavior preceding a venomous bite. To make lorises handleable pets, traders extract their teeth with wire cutters without anesthetic, causing severe pain, infection, and inability to eat properly. The entire captive loris experience - tooth extraction, daylight exposure, isolation from conspecifics, inability to express nocturnal behavior - represents comprehensive welfare failure. Educating social media users about what they're actually watching has been one of the most effective interventions.