Red-handed tamarins are monkeys that live in old-growth and second-growth forest canopies in French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and northern Brazil. They are omnivores.
Did you know?
- They are named for the bright, red-gold hands and feet. They are also called golden-handed tamarin, Midas tamarin or yellow-handed tamarin. Midas refers to the mythological king whose touch turned objects (and people) to solid gold.
- Marmosets and tamarins are distinguished from other South American monkeys by their small size, modified claws rather than nails on all digits except the big toe, two as opposed to three molar teeth in either side of each jaw, and the occurrence of twin births.
Tamarin behavior and facts
- They live in extended family groups between 4 and 15.
- Tamarins eat buds, flowers, fruit, leaves, nectar, insects, snails, frogs, spiders and lizards,
- From birth to death
- Gestation: 140 to 170 days
- Birth: twice per year
- Non-identical twins, but they can have single births and triplets
- Lifespan: 7 to 16 years in captivity; unknown in wild
- Height: 7.5 to 8.25 ounces
- Weight: 9 to 13 ounces
Least concern according to the IUCN
Red-handed tamarins, the Oregon Zoo and you
Tamarins live in the Chimpanzees exhibit where they eat a marmoset diet, with bananas, eggs, grapes and oranges.