These days the staff at the El Paso Zoo is proudly beaming over a pair of newborn Slow Loris. The big eyed babies were recently born there, twins, a boy and a girl. They are so tiny that they only weigh about 25 grams or the equivalency to about two tablespoons of sugar.

Experts at the El Paso Zoo managed to safely breed a pair of pygmy slow loris to help boost the primitive species' threatened population in the world. The babies are the first offspring for their parents Kym Ly and Steven Tyler but they have not yet been named.

Collections Supervisor Griselda Martinez stated that, 'We are excited about our first birth of pygmy slow lorises at the Zoo, especially because they are twins. It’s evident that through our staff’s hard work and dedication, this has been a successful birth.'

The only drawback right now is being able to actually see the tiny duo. Visitors may have a hard time seeing them in their exhibit because they are nocturnal animals and they may be sleeping in clinging to mom, in their hammock, in deep baskets or nest boxes.

Some facts about the Slow loris:

Slow lorises are found in south and south-east Asia, including Indonesia, Burma, Singapore, Vietnam and Cambodia.


They live in rainforests and mangrove forests, preferring high dense canopies they can easily travel across.

The creatures are omnivores, eating insects, small birds and reptiles, eggs, fruits and other vegetation.

As a defence mechanism lorises will bite aggressors, producing a toxin to infect the wounds. To humans the bites cause a painful swelling, but the toxin is mild and not fatal.

The single reported case of human death by loris bite was believed to have resulted from prophylactic shock.