Tuesday, May 10, 2011

New Arrival: Red-Handed Tamarins

Wildwood Wildlife Park is pleased to welcome our newest residents, red‐handed tamarins.

Also known as the golden‐handed tamarin,  the red‐handed tamarin is a New World monkey named for contrasting reddish-orange hair on their feet and hands. They are native to wooded areas north of the Amazon River in Brazil, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, and Venezuela. 

They live in cooperative groups of 4 to 15 members with little competition among a group even between breeding males. A female will typically give birth to two offspring.

Young tamarins are cared for primarily by the father and turned over to the mother only to
nurse; however the entire group helps with the care of the young.

The red‐handed tamarin is an exceptional climber and spends most of its time among the vines and branches of the trees. They are quick and agile and superb jumpers know to jump distances of over 60 feet from a tree to the ground with no sign of injury.

The red‐handed tamarins body measures 12 ‐17 inches including the tail and they
weigh .88 ‐1.2 pounds. The tamarin's diet consists of fruit, flowers, insects, frogs, spiders, lizards, and nectar.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-handed_tamarin

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