Emperor tamarin

The emperor tamarin is a small monkey of the southwestern Amazon rainforest. It is said to be named for its long white moustache, which looks like that of the German emperor Wilhelm II. It lives in northern Brazil (Acre and Amazonas), eastern Peru and northern Bolivia.

Its fur is mostly grey, with yellowish speckles on the chest, black hands and feet and a brown tail. The white moustache reaches out past its shoulders on both sides. The body is only 23 to 26 centimetres long, with a tail of 35 to 41.5 centimetres, and it weighs roughly 500 grams. It has claws on its fingers and toes, apart from the big toe, which has a nail. It clings to branches, leaps quickly between trees and seldom comes down to the forest floor.

Forest home

Emperor tamarins live mainly in lowland and lower mountain rainforest, and also in secondary forest, which makes up about 40 percent of forest in the Amazon area. They live in groups of two to eight on average, though a group can have as few as four or as many as eighteen. Two subspecies are known: the black-chinned emperor tamarin and the bearded emperor tamarin, which has a prominent white beard as well as the moustache.

Food and friends

The tamarins eat fruit and flowers, plant gums and saps they gouge from trees, and animal prey such as insects and frogs. They often join groups of Weddell's saddle-back tamarins, spending up to 20 percent of their day feeding in mixed troops. Groups are led by a dominant female and her mate. Joining forces helps them to find good food.

Raising twins

Females first breed when they are about 16 to 20 months old, and a pregnancy lasts up to six months. Most births happen in the wet season, when food is plentiful. Twins are common, and caring for them costs a lot of energy. A dominant female may mate with several males, so the males are more likely to help. Males often carry the infants while she looks for food. The most dangerous time for babies is weeks 5 to 15, when they start exploring and may fall from the treetops.

On the globe

The model shows a small grey monkey with a long white moustache, as in the card. Look at the moustache.