 Because of their " cuteness " , viral videos of pet slow lorises are some of the mostly frequently watched animal videos on YouTube . In March 2011 , a newly posted video of a slow loris holding a cocktail umbrella had been viewed more than two million times , while an older video of a slow loris being tickled had been viewed more than six million times . Most viewers do not realize that the slow loris pet trade is illegal or that the docile behavior of the animals in the videos is a passive defensive reaction for dealing with stress . For instance , according to Nekaris , the slow loris with the umbrella — who was suffering from a head wound — was disoriented in the video by the bright lights and was grasping the umbrella like it would a piece of bamboo from its native habitat . Nekaris requested that YouTube remove the videos , but the UK @-@ based newspaper , The Independent , reported that YouTube declined to comment on the slow loris videos . While YouTube currently has means for viewers to flag videos involving animal cruelty , pornography , and illegal weapons or drugs , it has no means for flagging videos involving illegally trafficked animals . The ' tickling slow loris ' video was eventually removed in February 2012 , after having received over 9 million views and generating over 12 thousand comments ( although copies of it were later reposted ) . During the lifetime of the video two significant slow loris conservation @-@ associated events occurred , the March 2011 posting of this Wikipedia article and the January 2012 airing of a BBC television production entitled Jungle Gremlins of Java ; both events were associated with a spike in viewership of the video , and were often mentioned in the comments made during those periods ( 3 @.@ 2 % and 13 @.@ 3 % , respectively ) . Celebrity endorsements stimulated viewing of the video without providing any increase in conservation awareness . Over time , the proportion of comments indicating a desire to have a slow loris as a pet remained high but trended downward , while the proportion of comments indicating awareness of slow loris 's legal and conservation status increased after the conservation @-@ related events but did not follow a long term trend . The removal of the video followed shortly after the airing of the BBC documentary , which dramatized the exploitation of slow lorises for the pet trade . 
