Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park Welcomes Rare Twin Cotton-Top Tamarin Baby Monkeys
Hi everyone!
A set of rare twin cotton-top tamarin monkeys was recently born at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park in Walt Disney World. Disney shares this news and some wonderful photos of the pair.
Jeff and I visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom this week and it was hard to see the babies, they are so small. The twins are the first cotton-top tamarin births at Walt Disney World since 2001! Because it is too soon to know if the pair are male or female, they have not been named.
Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World
While cotton-top tamarins are a rare species with fewer than 7,500 remaining in the wild, it is not unusual for twins to be born. The births double the size of the cotton-top tamarin population at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park. The newborns weigh about as much as a chicken egg and measure approximately 4 inches long. The newborns cling to mom and dad as they leap around their enclosure on Discovery Island! The tamarin infants will be carried around on their backs for up to 14 weeks.
Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World
Cotton-top tamarins are native to Colombia and can be found in tropical forests in the northwest region of the country.
Disney says of cotton-top tamarins,
These primates live high in the treetops and forage through the canopy for the fruits and insects that make up most of their diet. They are critically endangered because of the illegal pet trade as well as extensive deforestation and loss of habitat.
Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World
Cotton-top tamarins have bright-white hair on top of their heads and are very intelligent, with at least 38 distinct calls to communicate with each other.
Aaron Wockenfuss/Walt Disney World
Adult cotton-top tamarins weigh less than a pound and are about the size of a squirrel.
From Disney:
The birth of these critically endangered primates is just one example of how we work with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Species Survival Plan to help ensure the responsible breeding of threatened species in managed care and help create healthy and genetically diverse populations of animals for years to come.
We look forward to stopping at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in the coming weeks and looking again for those tiny cute cotton-top tamarin twins!