Tamarin Monkey
All About the Tamarin Monkey
A Tamarin Monkey is very tiny and one of what are considered New World Monkeys. They live in in the Amazon Basin in South America. The Tamarin Monkey is only around seven inches tall with the largest ones topping out at twelve inches. They weigh four ounces to a pound and a half.
The Tamarin Monkey lives in the trees in the rainforest. Their troops can contain over forty monkeys but usually they develop smaller groups of ten members and under. They are omnivores, eating both plants and meat. The meat diet usually consists of a variety of insects and invertebrates and they are known to steal an occasional bird’s egg.
The Tamarin Monkey and the Marmoset Monkey are very similar in habitat, diet, and behavior, the only clear difference being that the Tamarin’s incisors are shorter than their canine teeth. Both groups of monkeys give birth to non-identical twins instead of one young one at a time. A Tamarin Monkey usually lives to be approximately twenty years old.
Many of the types of Tamarin monkeys are endangered. One that has received a lot of publicity from conservation organizations is the Gold Lion Tamarin. They live in Brazil and less than two-percent of their habitat remains. That’s due to destruction of the rainforest by logging to make room for human settlements. There are approximately 1500 in the wild now, thanks to the efforts of the world conservation agencies, the Brazilian government and the national zoo.
Those who survived and the newly bred monkeys live on a reserve--the Reserva Biologica de Poco das Antas in Rio de Janeiro. Zoos around the world also have a total of 450 in captivity. Now the Golden Lion Tamarian Monkey prefers to live in a swamp forest where there are plenty of insects and plants to eat. They even eat small lizards. They spend the day searching out insects from tree bark and crevices where they might live. The Golden Lion monkey sleeps in tree holes.
In zoos, this species lives in groups just as they do in the wild. However, in the wild, fighting is usually avoided between separate groups but there is much vocalization and scent marking. In captivity, the most fighting occurs between two female adults, even if one is the mother of the other. When the young are born, the entire group helps with caring for the babies. Only sixty-percent will survive their first year.
The Tamarin Monkey has many predators in the wild. Their small size makes them an easy target. The worst are hawks and other large birds in the raptor family, along with cats and large types of snakes. The monkeys vocalize loudly to warn others.
While much has been done to help the Tamarian Monkey the work is still not over. The next few years will determine whether or not those that are left will survive.