Outreach and education on conservation issues are crucial elements of successful conservation programmes. Big screen animations have a global reach, yet are not fully capitalised by conservationists and there remains great potential in developing them into powerful biodiversity and conservation education outreach tools despite known shortfalls and limitations in scientific value. We reviewed recent major animated features with multiple conservation themes (e.g. extinction, wildlife trade, ex-situ conservation) and that especially feature tropical biodiversity, especially endemics, charismatic flagships or threatened species in authentic natural settings. We acknowledge that while the potential to develop them into effective biodiversity and conservation education tools is undoubted and there are recent examples, there is a crucial need to complement them with supporting educational materials, campaigns and activities. Partnerships between the animation studios, conservation NGOs and local stakeholders will be integral to effect this.

The predation pressure put on primates by diurnal birds of prey differs greatly between continents. Africa and South America have specialist raptors (e.g. crowned hawk-eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus and harpy eagle Harpia harpyja) whereas in Asia the only such specialist's (Philippine eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi) distribution is largely allopatric with primates. The almost universal absence of polyspecific groups in Asia (common in Africa and South America) may indicate reduced predation pressure. As such there is almost no information on predation pressures on primates in Asia by raptors. Here we report successful predation of a juvenile banded langur Presbytis femoralis (~2 kg) by a changeable hawk-eagle Spizaetus cirrhatus. The troop that was attacked displayed no signs of being alarmed, and no calls were made before the event. We argue that in insular Southeast Asia, especially, large Spizaetus hawk-eagles (~2 kg) are significant predators of arboreal colobines. Using data on the relative size of sympatric Spizaetus hawk-eagles and colobines we make predictions on where geographically we can expect the highest predation pressure (Thai-Malay Peninsula) and which colobines are least (Nasalis larvatus, Trachypithecus auratus, P. thomasi) and most (P. femoralis, T. cristatus) affected.

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Animal stereotypies have long been used in the study of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in humans. These studies have led to the understanding of some of the molecular pathways in the disorder and the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and myo-inositol in the treatment of these conditions. If animal models, especially nonhuman primate models, were used to study human disorders and if the resulting treatments were successful, then conversely one should be able to treat nonhuman primate stereotypies with similar methods. We here summarize animal models of OCD (including nonhuman primate models) and human OCD treatments, and using successful human treatment by myo-inositol as models, recommend the use of myo-inositol in good captive management practice and the treatment of nonhuman primate stereotypies. We believe that this would be particularly useful in the treatment of stereotypies in nonhuman primates because they are physiologically so similar to humans.

Historically, the greater slow loris Nycticebus coucang has proven to be an elusive animal in Singapore, evading even the prolific British colonial animal collectors. In recent decades, sightings of the slow loris have increased remarkably, and these have coincided with an increase in nocturnal surveys. Past trade-record discrepancies, as well as the sighting in the wild of a non-native slow loris species, point to the importance of Singapore for global slow loris conservation. The first ever ecological survey is documented in this paper, highlighting the difficulty of studying the slow loris in the wild, in habitats hemmed in by urban development, as well as the urgency of further work on Singapore's most poorly studied primate.