Slow Loris: So much cute you will squee out loud--and then fall over.

[tblue37]

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But this cutie can be dangerous if frightened or stressed, because the loris is the only poisonous mammal, and its toxin can cause death by anaphylactic shock.

Or it can cause you to fall over "ded" from its utter cuteness.

Those precise, deliberate movements, those big eyes, those clever little hands holding his rice ball, that tiny pink tongue and little munchy jaws.

[pinboy3niner]

1. Those munchy munchy jaws

The better to munch on your brain, my dear.

[shenmue]

2. Squeeeeeeeeeeee

[tblue37]

3. Did you fall over? nt

[shenmue]

7. Thump

[Rhiannon12866]

4. He is so cute! Looks like a stuffed animal!

[tblue37]

5. With sad, questioning eyes. Don't you love when his tiny little hand reaches out from under the box

for the rice ball, and the way he keeps hold of that fork?

[Rhiannon12866]

6. I know!

I just want to pick him up and squeeze him, he looks so sad! He's just so adorable that he doesn't look real!

[Hekate]

8. He's adorable, but the prospect of anaphylactic shock would put me off more than a little.

(Must play vid again. And again.)j

[tblue37]

9. I know. I have watched it four times already. nt

[elljay]

10. Adorable but not the only venomous mammal

You don't want to annoy a platypus!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/wild_things/2015/06/22/platypus_venom_painful_immediate_long_lasting_impervious_to_painkillers.html

[geardaddy]

13. Yeah, that was my first thought, too.

Here's a list of others:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_venomous_animals#Mammals

European mole
Platypus (male)
Elliot's short-tailed shrew
Eurasian water shrew
Northern short-tailed shrew
Southern short-tailed shrew
Cuban solenodon
Haitian solenodon
Hedgehogs (possibly)
Slow loris

[underahedgerow]

11. Sadly, they do not thrive in captivity. Their teeth are pulled out so they can't bite and they

usually die after just a few months, because they're incredibly fragile. They're certainly not meant to be eating sugary rice balls, as they are fruit and insect eaters. They pull the teeth out to prevent the humans from being bitten; their venom is in a patch which they lick, coat their teeth, and bite to dispatch the venom.

Worse, there is a horrible underground trade in Asia for them as pets, and they're an endangered species of course, mostly due to -- get this -- their cuteness.

Not to be a buzzkill, but the truth is that these videos do a huge amount of harm to the creatures.

Makes me very sad....

[wryter2000]

12. Nit picky here

Adorable animal.

Only, it's "venomous," not "poisonous." Poisonous would mean you'd die if you ate it. Venomous means it has venom it can inject with its bite.

Snake lover here, and that mistake bugs me. And no, I don't have any venomous snakes, but people are always asking me if my little corn snake is "poisonous."

[aidbo]

15. "I don't know, I've never tried him". 😉

[wryter2000]

17. Lol

[tblue37]

18. Not being an expert, I looked the info up--but apparently my source, chosen without

my knowing enough to wisely judge it--used "poisonous" and said the loris was the only "poisonous" mammal.

Actually, I know a fair amount about snakes, so originally I had described the loris as "venomous," but changed the word when my info source (again, not wisely relied on) called it "poisonous." I thought maybe the fact that it has to lick its venom from its own skin rather than having it reach the teeth from a gland connected to the mouth made the difference.

I have always hated the fact of the exotic pet trade, but I just thought this was an awfully cute little guy.

One if my best friends is a herpetologist. He once gave my kids and me 4 milk snakes (a threatened species). But he knew we'd take good care of them and then release them once they were big enough to be at less risk of predation.

We released them a few years later on the rural property of another herpetologist friend. He continued to see them from time to time while out for his daily run.

[femmocrat]

14. I'm a sucker for furry little critters like that!

Adorable!

[Orrex]

16. Check out entry #1 in this list:

5 Viral Animal Videos with Insanely Depressing Back Stories