Racine Zoo welcomes a new set of tamarin babies to the family
Once again, twin emperor tamarin infants have been born to Amelie and Pitino at the Racine Zoo! Amelie, the mother, was herself born at the Racine Zoo, and these offspring represent the pair’s fifth and sixth offspring in the past three years. The tiny females, named Gabriella & Gianna, born on December 22, 2021, are doing fantastically.
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The Racine Zoo is one of three zoos that are currently successfully breeding emperor tamarins, and these offspring also mark the thirteenth and fourteen offspring born at the Zoo since breeding efforts took off in the 2010s. This success, among others, has led the Racine Zoo’s primary primate specialist, Crystal Champeau, to be a part of the new world monkey Taxon Advisory Group, and serve as a resource to tamarin keepers across the country. Recently, Amelie’s father, Marquis, and brothers, Jacques and Pierre, moved to the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona to a new home, as males would disperse in the wild. This made plenty of room in their home for the new little ones.
Raising tamarins is a family affair, especially with twins, and you can often find the babies riding on their mother or father’s backs as they jump through the branches of their home. The older siblings, Vinny, Valentino, Debby Lou, and Mattessich, are also taking part in rearing the offspring and participating in their care while gaining valuable parenting experience themselves, and hopefully one day start families of their own.
“We are so excited to welcome yet another generation of tamarins,” said Aszya
Summers, Curator of Animal Care and Conservation Education at the Racine Zoo. “We are proud to be a part of the emperor tamarin Species Survival Plan, and our ability to continue to contribute to the sustainability of this species.”
🌟Want to support the new twins and the tamarin family? Check out their wish list: https://a.co/9gOfXP2
