Feared extinct, the Bangka slow loris was there all along — and 86 rescued animals are back in the trees

For years, scientists feared the Bangka slow loris — a small, wide-eyed primate found only on Indonesia's Bangka Island — might be gone for good. Then the records started adding up. Between 2015 and 2025, the Alobi Wildlife Rescue Center documented more than 90 of the animals across the island: rescued from houses, gardens, plantations and roadsides, treated for injuries, and, in 86 cases, healed and released back into suitable forest. The rediscovery, reported by Reuters, comes with a clear warning from researchers: the loris survives only if Bangka's remaining natural forest does, against pressure from tin mining and palm-oil expansion.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: institutional program