Surface Structure of Dorsal Guard Hair of Slender Loris, Loris tardigradus (Linnaeus), and Slow Loris, Nycticebus coucang (Boddaert) (Loridae: Primate: Mammalia)

Slender Loris is mainly distributed in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, India, whereas Slow Loris is distributed over south of Brahmaputra River in north-eastern India. They are regarded as endangered and vulnerable respectively owing to various anthropogenic activities such as loss of forest cover and habitat destruction, poaching and hunting for illegal trade and superstitions. Skin, claws, teeth, bones, meat, and other derivatives of these species, even whole live animals are often seized by enforcement agencies from illegal traders. But it is difficult to identify the small parts of skin or its derivatives with the conventional morpho-taxonomic methods. So, easy, quick and reliable parameters are needed to identify skin and its derivatives for prosecution of persons engaged in illegal trade of wildlife. Tricho-taxonomic study of dorsal guard hairs provides good result for identifying the small parts of skin and its derivatives.