Scientists discover a new species of primate, a type called Nycticebus kayan lazy. Video.

Scientists discover a new species of primate, a type called Nycticebus kayan lazy.

These small, nocturnal animals native to southern and southeastern Asia are poorly understood, mainly because of its slow movements and its nightlife.

However, scientists are able to distinguish the species of sloths through their facial markings. Recently a team examined several specimens and photographs of Borneo menagenis Nycticebus lazy and that differences in the marks revealed is that the error Nycticebus menagenis includes three species of sloth, two of them classified at the time as subspecies, and Nycticebuskayan , hitherto unknown to science.

The Nycticebuskayan has a characteristic "patch around the eyes and  can get the chin. None of the other species of Borneo shows a feature as well, "explains study co-author Rachel Munds of the University of Missouri (USA).

Beware of lazy

Like the rest of lazy, the Nycticebuskayan has a poisonous bite. According Munds, who worked with Susan Ford of the University of Illinois and Anna Nekaris of Oxford Brookes University (UK), is one of the few mammals with this feature.

The poison is in a gland in the inside of the elbow, and licking the area, poison teeth passes. Thus, if the animal bites a person or a predator, it may suffer a fatal anaphylactic shock.

According Munds, sloths also use poison to catch prey or protect their young. For example, it is known that mothers spread the poison on the skin of the smallest to ward off predators.

However, these animals have not been able to defend himself from hunters who are engaged in illegal pet trade. So much so, that menagenis Nycticebus have become part of the list of "vulnerable" animals International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and Munds suspects that other species will follow their steps.

For the expert, learn more about Borneo sloths help conservationists to save these "fascinating creatures."

The study on the new lazy recently been published in the American Journal of Primatology