Wildlife treasures of a Sri Lankan arboretum
Sri Lanka is one of 34 biodiversity hotspots, including protected species such as Asian elephants and wild leopards.
Situated in the heart of Sri Lanka, the IFS-Sam Popham Arboretum was established in 1963 by F.H. (Sam) Popham and is the country's only dry zone arboretum. In addition to the variety of trees, the arboretum is also home to a wide range of wildlife species, including mammals such as the grey slender loris, birds (83 species), butterflies (77 species) and dragonflies (12 species).
In 2017, a team of Marine and Natural History Photography students and staff from Falmouth University, visited the IFS-Sam Popham Arboertum as part of Project Loris to research and photograph the many wild inhabitants of the arboretum and the island (by day) and track the grey slender loris (by night).