A pygmy slow loris was recently spotted at Guangxi Nonggang National Nature Reserve in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

It is a rare primate under first-class national protection in China and classified as endangered by the IUCN Red List. The animal was checked for diseases before being released into the wild.

"We took samples for testing the sources of epidemic and diseases. We've collected samples using a throat swab and an anal swab, and drawn blood and kept hair samples. We also implanted a chip in it, which serves as an ID card," said Li Shousheng, deputy director of Guangxi Terrestrial Wildlife Protection Research and Epidemic Source Disease Detection Center.

The discovery brings the number of primate species recorded in the reserve to seven, making the area one of the reserves with the largest distribution of primates in China.

(Cover image via VCG)

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