News Archive

December 2005

Early Christmas Present for Tamarins

We were beginning to think it would never happen, but a week before Christmas Rebecca Spalding was thrilled when she arrived at work to find that one of her charges had given birth.

We have kept Red-handed Tamarins in our collection since 1988 and over the years they have bred successfully. Our male has fathered 4 offspring since arriving at the Park in 1999 but sadly his partner died in November 2002, and after a long wait a new female arrived in early 2004.

It has taken a long time for them to bond to each other, the keepers have tried everything to encourage the union, enrichment devices to stimulate natural behaviours, analysing their diet to ensure that they had the best possible nutrient rich food, student Carly Ford has been doing an observational study on their behaviour to try to figure out if we were missing anything, and of course our vet has also been involved, making sure that both individuals were healthy. We were just about to give up, when our prayers were answered.

So why go to all this effort? Due to habitat destruction Red-handed Tamarins are threatened in their natural environment (Guiana and Northern Brazil). As part of a European Breeding programme there are approximately 175 animals in captivity. Of those 175 animals there are 10 founder (original) animals, one of which is our male, whose bloodline is underrepresented within the Programme. Red Handed Tamarin Young

Red Handed Tamarin Young The coordinator of the Breeding Programme monitors the genetics of the captive population, and each year he issues recommendations as to which animals are important to breed from in order to maintain a healthy and genetically diverse population.

This year the recommendations we received were to breed from this very important pair, any offspring will be of high value to the successful continuation of the Breeding Programme. Making this birth a very welcome Christmas present.

Want to Help?

A visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park can now be even more worthwhile. By adopting an animal, you can provide a helpful contribution towards the costs of keeping and feeding the animals and supporting our conservation breeding programmes... click here for more information