By Adam Dutton via SWNS
Endangered monkey twins born ‘the size of golf balls’ at a British zoo have been pictured cuddling their mom.
The pair of tiny cotton-top tamarins were born at Chester Zoo on June 30 and form a vital lifeline in the survival of the species.
Only 2,000 remain in the wild thanks to habitat loss and more than 80 percent of the population has been wiped out in the last few years.
Cute photos show the pair snuggling onto the back of their mom as she tucks into some well-earned dinner.
The unnamed and unsexed pair arrived to parents Leo and Treat following a five-month pregnancy.
Weighing just 40g at birth, zoo keepers have compared the twins to the size of golf balls.
Mike Jordan, Animal and Plant Director at the zoo, said: “It’s wonderful to see two tiny babies clinging to mom Treat and dad Leo as they leap from tree to tree.
“When cotton-top tamarins are born they look just like adults, except they’re even teenier – around the size of golf balls.
“Mom and dad have been sharing parental duties and as a result the little ones are both thriving.
“It’s still early days, so the babies are too tiny for us to confidently determine if each of them is male or female but, in a few months’ time, we’ll know for sure when they grow in confidence and start to branch out and explore the treetops on their own.”
The population of cotton-top tamarins in the wild is thought to have plummeted from 6,000 to just 2,000 in the last few years, Jordan added.
“The arrival of these twins is a really important for the species,” he said.
“This severe reduction in their population has meant that our conservation breeding program, coordinated with other major international zoos, is providing an increasingly vital lifeline for the species, as we look to establish a thriving population for the future.”
Cotton-top tamarins originate in northern Colombia but experts say only 5 percent of their habitat remains after mass logging for the agriculture, paper and timber industries has damaged the area.
The species is listed as critically endangered on the International Union of Conservation and Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of the world’s most threatened species.
Despite their size, tamarins are extremely intelligent using a sophisticated system of facial expressions and more than 38 different vocalizations to communicate with each other.
