Mary E. Blair is a postdoctoral researcher in the American Museum of Natural History?s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, where she coordinates the Enhancing Diversity in Conservation Science Initiative.
March 23, 2013
The room smells of mothballs and formalin. Following such an inspiring field experience in northern Vietnam?s Na Hang Nature Reserve, where I spotted the first slow loris I ever saw in the wild, this indoor environment seems decidedly unromantic. But, sometimes, the best research is accomplished by poring over boxes of old primate skeletons and skins. I am spending the day working in the zoological museum at Vietnam National University in Hanoi, where some of my research collaborators are faculty members and students.
As a supplement to our field surveys, museum collections can help us understand variation in slow lorises across their ranges. For example, the Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) can be found from India all the way to Vietnam in the east and Peninsular Malaysia in the south. Other scientists have noted some variation in fur color across this wide range. Pulling together our observations from museums and the field, we might have a better chance to show that the animals? fur color and markings vary depending on where they live.
The Pygmy slow loris (N. pygmaeus) has a distribution that is restricted to the east of the Mekong River, a much smaller range than that of the Bengal slow loris. But this animal can still be found throughout almost the entire length of Vietnam, spanning from subtropical forests in the north to tropical forests in the south.
For many other primates in Vietnam, such as gibbons or doucs, there are three or more different species, occupying different parts of the long north-south spine of the country. Colleagues who have done similar work in Java and Borneo, also using a mix of moving and stiff animals, believe they have found new species in those Indonesian islands. Will slow lorises vary across Vietnam in a similar way to their primate cousins ? as geographically diverse species with regionally specific looks?
Sitting among the boxes, I know what I?m looking for. Back in the United States, I collected data on slow lorises at the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History with the help of colleagues and interns. I came armed with pictures of individuals? fur color and stripe patterns, a set of loris face shapes and exact skull dimensions. Put all of these pieces together and we have what amounts to a unique record for each animal ? like a fingerprint, but for the whole body. It?s these bodyprints that help us compare individuals to one another.
Even as I measured and scribbled, hunched over skeletons and furs, I knew that we would soon be back in the dark hum of the forest at our next field site. But between this manufactured quiet and that natural one sits the bustling Vietnamese capital.
To shake off the feeling of being indoors all day, a colleague took me out for some Hanoi street food, for which this city of about 2.6 million is famous. My favorite: a potato cut in a spiral, fried on a stick and covered in hot sauce.
Your senses are surrounded here. The nose fills with the fantastic street food smells (like my beloved fried potatocicle). The eyes gape at all the colorful banners and lights. And the ears fill with the ever-present drone of motorcycle engines.
A profusion of parked motorbikes fills the sidewalks pushing most people out onto on the streets. On wider sidewalks, there are lines on the concrete for people to play badminton.
Soon the only lines we will see will be the imaginary ones we trace through the dark forest ? transects drawn in our heads to search for more slow lorises.
You can follow Mary on Twitter: @marye_blair
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