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Palm-size rare monkey abandoned by parents who turned all attention to twin baby

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10 August 2020

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The babies were born on 25 July, and since the moment of birth the parents rejected one of them and ‘completely concentrated on the other’, the zookeeper's said. Picture: Royev Ruchei Zoo

The two-week-old monkey is too young to even have a name yet, so staff at Krasnoyarsk-based Royev Ruchey Zoo call it Malysh - in Russian it means ‘A Little One’.

The team believes that the most dangerous time is over as the tiny baby monkey - one of the world’s smallest and rarest primates - is taking milk and growing. 

It is still not clear why its parents, 6-year-old Gretta and Einstein preferred one of their newly-born twins over the other. 

The couple has been together since 2017, with Einstein used to be the only cotton-top tamarin in Siberia having to wait for Gretta to arrive from Moscow. 

Palm-size rare monkey abandoned by parents who turned all attention to twin baby 


Palm-size rare monkey abandoned by parents who turned all attention to twin baby 


Palm-size rare monkey abandoned by parents who turned all attention to twin baby 


Palm-size rare monkey abandoned by parents who turned all attention to twin baby 


Palm-size rare monkey abandoned by parents who turned all attention to twin baby 
‘The little monkey’s human ‘mothers’ feed it every three hours. At first the portion was just one millilitre, now it’s 2.5ml’, the zookeeper's said. Pictures: Royev Ruchei Zoo


This is not their first baby, and these monkeys, endangered now due to large-scale destruction of the tropical forests in northwestern Colombia, are known to be some of the most caring parents among primates. 

The babies were born on 25 July, and since the moment of birth the parents rejected one of them and ‘completely concentrated on the other’, the zookeeper's said. 

The babies are born with eyes open and hair, they need to be breastfed until they are 3 months old. 

‘The little monkey’s human ‘mothers’ feed it every three hours. At first the portion was just one millilitre, now it’s 2.5ml. 

‘The baby doesn’t have a name yet; according to our tradition we name all animal youngsters when they turn one month old’, the Krasnoyarsk zoo said. 

The cotton-top tamarin, currently classified as ‘critically endangered’ is known for its high level of cooperative care and altruistic behaviour. 

Some 50 years ago up to 40,000 cotton-top tamarins are thought to have been caught for biomedical research until international trade was banned in 1976. 

Cotton-top tamarins - Eistein, top, and Einstein with Gretta. Picture: Royev Ruchei Zoo

Palm-size rare monkey abandoned by parents who turned all attention to twin baby 


Palm-size rare monkey abandoned by parents who turned all attention to twin baby 

Comments (1)

Cute baby !.. Einstein..: one and TWO !
Jocelyne, FRANCE
11/08/2020 14:33
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