Red-handed Tamarin

Saguinus midas
Rothandtamarin

Classification: New World monkeys, Callitrichidae
Distribution: north of the Amazon River
Habitat: tropical rainforest
Head-to-body length: 21 – 28 cm
Length of tail: 31 – 44 cm
Weight: 400 – 550 g
Gestation: 140 days, mostly twins
Diet: fruit, seeds, insects, small mammals

The Red-handed Tamarin has black fur with reddish-orange hair on their hands and feet. They live in tropical rainforest north of the Amazon River and are abundant in different types of forest like swamp forest and montane forest. They forage in the mid-level of the trees. Like other Callitrichidae they live in groups but only the dominant female mates – in nature with different males, in the zoo mostly with one male.

The female gives birth to two dizygotic twins. A specification of the Callitrichidae is that the embryos exchange genetic material via the placenta. This is probably the reason why the father as well also the brothers and sisters are helping in raising the offspring.