“Precious” endangered baby monkeys born in Jersey

Thursday 06 September 2018

Jersey Zoo has given visitors something extra ape-pealing to see, after delivering two baby endangered tamarins – the first to be born outside of their native Brazil in seven years.

The “precious” black lion babies were born on 12 July, and are now thriving and enjoying jumping around in their enclosure as they enter their second month.

But their reality could have been quite different if they’d been brought up in their ancestral homeland – São Paulo in Brazil – where they’re under “extreme threat”, as only 3% of their natural habitat remains.

Pictured: The weeks-old newborns are thriving at the Zoo. 

“The changing climate is having a big impact in the west of São Paulo state in Brazil where the tamarin comes from. The dry season is getting longer and the lack of rain means that the females who give birth at the beginning of the wet season struggle to find enough food,” Durrell’s Head of Mammals, Dom Wormell, explained.

Durrell conservation experts are therefore working hard to protect and stimulate the population of miniature monkeys at the Zoo – the only place outside of Brazil where the species can be found.

Black lion tamarins – sometimes known as BLTs – were originally introduced to Jersey, where they live free in the woods, in 1990. Last year, however, five more arrived from São Paulo after a fundraiser to cover the costs of transporting them to Jersey.

Pictured: The cute pair cling to their mother, who is the first parent to rear them herself in Europe in 15 years. 

“The import of the Brazilian animals last year brought new blood into what remained of the European population, giving us the chance to build a strong conservation assurance population. It is great that the support people gave to us has now come to fruition with this being the first-mother reared infants in Europe in at least 15 years,” Dom added. 

Those local efforts build on work being done in the tamarins’ native habitat to increase numbers, including running workshops on captive care and planting ‘tree corridors’ to help isolated tamarin populations link up with each other.

But the baby BLTs weren’t the only conservation success story this year.

Video: The last BLT to be born on the island was in 2011.

Two pygmy bearded chameleon hatchlings also took up residence at the zoo, as well as a pair of silvery marmoset babies and seven critically endangered Livingstone’s fruit bat pups.

Senior Mammal Keeper Edward Bell was particularly delighted about the latter, as they will “contribute massively to growing the captive population.”

“Our captive bat numbers were initially slow to grow but by having over seven bat pups born per year for three years in a row, we should start to see numbers climb steadily in the near future. This is a great success for us here at Jersey Zoo and it shows that the Island Bat Roost is really paying off,” he said.