Zoo Tales

On Thursday, 18, October, dominant female Golden Headed Lion Tamarin, Nala, gave birth to a set of twins!  The two babies are very small but seem to be strong and healthy are thriving thanks to the excellent care of his experienced parents.

The same set of parents had a single baby earlier in the year when they had a single baby on the 10,  June – just four months ago!  In fact, a Golden Headed Lion Tamarin’s gestation period is between 125 and 128 days, and Nala gave birth just 130 days after the birth of her last baby, showing she didn't waste much time before mating with Samuel again!  They have indeed been a very successful pairing as, in the two years that the pair have been living together here at Colchester Zoo they have had no less than six babies – two sets of twins and two single babies!  

Nala and Samuel are therefore considered to be very experienced parents and whilst the mother is very calm and confident with her baby the father is very protective of them both and can often be seen sitting beside them.  Samuel is being a particularly good father this time as he is already carrying one of the twins to help Nala out, as the fur on the back and sides of her have not had time to recover since her last baby!   

The further additions to the collection are particularly good news as this species of Tamarins is much endangered in the wild.  The golden headed lion tamarin is endemic to the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil which means it does not occur naturally anywhere else in the world. 

The wild populations of golden headed lion tamarins have decreased drastically, due to large areas of the forest in this region is being cleared at an alarming rate and the little that remains being highly fragmented.  Without conservation measures, it is fully expected that, in a short time, the golden headed lion tamarin will face critical conditions similar to those of other lion tamarin species which number between only 350 and 1,500 individuals in the wild.

Therefore, this birth is highly significant as the higher the number of breeding couples, both in captivity and in the wild, the better for the species as a whole. The new babies can be seen in the Small Mammals section in the Aquatic zone of the Zoo, cuddled in to Nala’s and Samuel’s back!