Size: Body length; 24cm tail length; 40cm. Weight; 450g.

Habitat and Distribution: Lowland and tropical rainforest in the Amazon basin of Peru, Brazil and Bolivia.

Age: 10-20 years. The oldest record Emperor Tamarin lived to nearly 24 years old.

Groups and Breeding: This is a very social species typically living in family groups of 2-8 individuals. They are a highly territorial species and fights between groups may last up to 6 hours. Pair bonds may last for many years and females will give birth twice a year, becoming pregnant almost immediately after giving birth to twins (the average gestation lasts around 140-150 days). The young will stay in the family and help to feed, groom, play with and generally care for any new offspring.

Diet: Fruit, flowers, nectar, gum/sap, insects, snails, small vertebrates and sometimes eggs.

• You can tell the difference between a tamarin and a marmoset by their lower incisor teeth; a marmosets’ are as large as their canines whereas a tamarins’ are small. This means that marmosets can gouge holes in tree bark to get at sap whereas tamarins have to exploit the holes made by others.
• Emperor Tamarins will sometimes form mixed species groups with Saddleback Tamarins.
• Groups of tamarins spend most of their time between 10-15m up in the trees.
• The father (or if there are two mature males in the group then both males) acts as a midwife to the female, assisting in labour, ‘catching’ the baby as it is born and cleaning it up afterwards. The newborns will be fed every 2-3 hours for 30 minutes at a time and will spend the rest of their time riding on their father’s backs. This lasts for 6-7 weeks.
• A new born baby tamarin weighs only 35g.
• Emperor Tamarins were named after the Emperor of Germany, Emperor Wilhelm II. Taxidermists liked to twist the moustaches of these primates up to look like the Emperor instead of letting them droop in their natural position.
• Swiss zoologist Goeldi gave the species the name of "emperor" as a joke, but the name stuck and was soon given the Latin name of "Saguinas imperator".