The results are in and it was a close one! The winning emperor tamarin twin girl names are...Gabriella & Gianna! Thank you to everyone who voted. Be sure to come visit these cuties soon!
THEY'RE GIRLS! We were finally able to announce the gender of our emperor tamarin twin babies this week, but we're still missing something—names! We've compiled a list of name pairs and we want your feedback! Vote on your favorite names now through March 1, 2022! We will announce the winning names on March 2 on social media and feature it in our E-News on March 4.
Gabriella / Gianna
Giulietta / Giovanna
Zarina / Zita
Caterina / Carmella
Happy Tamarin Twins Twosday on 2.2.22! In celebration of a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, we wanted to do a gender reveal for our baby tamarin twins!
About the Twins
Once again, twin emperor tamarin infants have been born to Amelie and Pitino at the Racine Zoo! Amelie, the mother, was herself born at the Racine Zoo, and these offspring represent the pair’s fifth and sixth offspring in the past three years. The babies, born on December 22, 2021, are doing fantastically.
The Racine Zoo is one of three zoos that are currently successfully breeding emperor tamarins, and these offspring also mark the thirteenth and fourteen offspring born at the Zoo since breeding efforts took off in the 2010s. This success, among others, has led the Racine Zoo’s primary primate specialist, Crystal Champeau, to be a part of the new world monkey Taxon Advisory Group, and serve as a resource to tamarin keepers across the country. Recently, Amelie’s father, Marquis, and brothers, Jacques and Pierre, moved to the Phoenix Zoo in Arizona to a new home, as males would disperse in the wild. This made plenty of room in their home for the new little ones.
Raising tamarins is a family affair, especially with twins, and you can often find the babies riding on their mother or father’s backs as they jump through the branches of their home. The older siblings, Vinny, Valentino, Debby Lou, and Mattessich, are also taking part in rearing the offspring and participating in their care while gaining valuable parenting experience themselves, and hopefully one day start families of their own.
“We are so excited to welcome yet another generation of tamarins,” said Aszya Summers, Curator of Animal Care and Conservation Education at the Racine Zoo. “We are proud to be a part of the emperor tamarin Species Survival Plan, and our ability to continue to contribute to the sustainability of this species.”
Currently, you can visit all eight tamarins on exhibit at the Vanishing Kingdom building at the Racine Zoo. Incredibly curious primates, they want to visit with you, too! As the babies grow, they will start to venture off their family members’ backs and wander the exhibit themselves!
Baby Shower Time!
Help support these little ones and the rest of the tamarin family with a gift! The tamarins have put together a wish list below (with a little help from their keepers). Once the gifts arrive, we'll share the tamarins' reactions on social media!
- $11 - Paper Streamers
- $11 - Silk Palm Leaves (We have found that baby tamarins use the artificial plants when learning how to walk, jump and climb. They can be rather rough on the plants so we need to replace them frequently! They also provide good enrichment with different textures and shapes!)
- $17 - Jolly Pets Push-n-Play Ball Dog Toy
- $33 - UltraCruz Foaming Tool (for cleaning their exhibit)
- $40 - ZuPreem 12-Pack Marmoset Diet Food (The tamarins get this as part of their diet every day!)
- $65 - Digital General Purpose Mini Scale (We use these scales to weigh our tamarin family. Works for babies through adults!)
Full list: https://a.co/9gOfXP2
Shipping
You can choose to ship the items right to the Racine Zoo! Please use the address below:
Racine Zoo C/O Tamarin Family 200 Goold St Racine, WI 53402
Please note: It will take time for the gifts to arrive and get checked by our vet, so be sure to stay tuned over the next few weeks on our social media pages for tamarins' reactions!
