Tamarin
A small New World monkey, moustached in several species. Twins are usual, and the father does most of the carrying between feeds.
Photo by Calgary Reviews, CC BY 2.0
Overview
Tamarins run their families on shared childcare, and the father does most of the carrying. A cotton top female produces twins twice a year, the pair together weighing 15 to 20 percent of what she does, and the male carries them almost all of the time except when she is feeding them.
They are small, 260 to 380 grams, and they live in groups that most commonly run 3 to 9 animals over a home range of 7 to 10 hectares. The diet is 40 percent insects, 38 percent fruit and about 14 percent tree gum, so this is an insectivore first and a fruit eater second, which is the reverse of how most people feed them. Captive animals average 23 years.
Temperament
Group animals, and the group is the point. A tamarin taken out of one has nothing to do all day, since almost every behaviour it has is directed at other tamarins.
They are diurnal, quick, and vocal, with a range of calls used constantly between animals that are out of sight of each other. Hand reared individuals often cannot be integrated back into a group later, because the skills involved are learned from other tamarins rather than innate.
Care and grooming
Insects are not a treat, they are 40 percent of the diet. Live invertebrates, a proper primate diet, gum, and vitamin D3, which captive New World monkeys need supplied because they do not get it the way they would under an open sky.
They are small enough that small problems become serious quickly, and they need a primate vet rather than a general practice. Weight loss in a tamarin is an emergency rather than something to watch.
Living and exercise
Tall, warm and shared. Branches at many angles, foraging that takes work rather than a bowl, and enough space for animals to get away from each other, since a group that cannot separate does not stay a functioning group.
The conservation position is worth knowing plainly: the cotton top tamarin is Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and listed on CITES Appendix II. Primate ownership is banned outright in several US states, requires a permit in others, and needs a licence in England.
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