Blog 2: Emperor Tamarin

 

Emperor Tamarin

Kamila Sibaja

Fig. 1, Auckland Zoo, Emperor Tamarin


Geographic Range


    Emperor Tamarins are native to the southwest Amazon basin, with a range that crosses Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia (Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute). They reside south of the equator within the southwestern Amazon River Basin in eastern Peru, northern Bolivia, and the northwestern Brazilian states of Acre and Amazonas. Populations are geographically distributed east of the upper Purus River; between the Purus River and Rio Acre; east of the Upper Juruá River to the Tarauacá River and Juruparí River; west to the Urubamba River and Inuya River; and south of Tahuamanú River (New England Primate Conservancy).


Fig. 2, Emperor tamarin range, IUCN 2024




Habitat Use & Ranging


    They live in various wooded habitats, including lowland, mountain, and seasonally flooded forests. Typically, the monkeys are found deep in the rainforest within the middle and lower layers, but they can sometimes be found in open tree-covered areas. The black-chinned emperor tamarins (tamarinus imperator) are found across the rainforests of Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia; the bearded emperor tamarins are mostly found in the rainforests of Brazil and Peru.

    Both prefer lowland tropical rainforests, they take up residence in tree canopies of river basins. However, they also live in other habitats; seasonally flooded forests, broadleaf forests, the edge of remnant forests, rainforests that grow on flatlands, and evergreen forests provide alternatives. They are not found high in the trees but rather dwell between 80 and 90 ft (24-27 m) from the forest floor.

    The monkeys forage over a home range that covers about 0.12 sq mi (30 ha), with the dominant female and her mate leading these expeditions. They travel in forest understory, about 33 ft (10 m) from the ground, and spend more time in the lower or middle canopy (New England Primate Conservancy).


Locomotion


    Emperor Tamarins are quadrupedal, they are incredibly agile and hop or turn from tree branch to tree branch as they travel through the forest. This ability to move quickly through their environment helps them to elude predators. Sometimes they carry their tail partially upright with the tip drooping downward. Because of their light body weight, they can rely on slender branches to reach for food that is inaccessible to heavier animals. They clutch a branch with their clawed grip and with their free arm retrieve fruits. They can travel at speeds of up to 24 miles per hour.

    Their long tail, although it is incapable of gripping, does help them balance as they travel through their environment. When clinging vertically to tree trunks, the monkeys make use of their claws by digging them into a tree’s bark ((New England Primate Conservancy).



Ecology


    Emperor Tamarins are omnivorous monkeys, they help to replenish their forest habitat by dispersing, via their feces, the seeds of the fruits that they eat. Although they mostly eat fruits, they may also feed on insects, gum, nectar, and leaves (Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute). This is possible because the Amazon River Basin’s year-round tropical environment provides an abundance of vegetation for emperor tamarins to dine upon. According to Crissey, their diet includes about 14% insects as determined by time spent foraging (2). At the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, emperor tamarins eat fruits, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, hard-boiled eggs, mealworms, and crickets.

    Unfortunately, their small bodies are meals for larger predators such as snakes, raptors, wild jungle cats, and dogs. However, since about ⅔ of female emperor tamarins have trichromatic vision, and the rest are dichromatic, they can spot prey and detect camouflaged predators. The trichromatic selective adaptation also helps them find ripe fruit, a dietary staple for this species (New England Primate Conservancy).

    A fun fact about their diet is that, as previously mentioned, they enjoy plant exudates; however, they wait for another animal (like marmosets) to gouge these sticky substances from a tree’s bark. Unlike marmosets, tamarins do not have a specialized dentition that allows them to perform this task. Exudates are key sources of calcium in their diets (Strier 184).


Fig. 3, Auckland Zoo, Emperor Tamarin


Works Cited

“Emperor Tamarin”, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, n.d., https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/emperor-tamarin. Accessed 16 February 2025.


Crissey, Susan D., et al. "Callitrichids: nutrition and dietary husbandry." Nutr Advis Hadb Fact Sheet 13 (2003): 1-19.


New England Primate Conservancy. “Emperor Tamarin Tamarinus Imperator”, New England Primate Conservancy, Kathleen Downey, 2021, https://neprimateconservancy.org/emperor-tamarin/#:~:text=This%20monkey%20is%20about%20the,(0.3%E2%80%930.5%20kg). Accessed 16 February 2025.


​​Strier, K.B. (2021). Primate Behavioral Ecology (6th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315657127






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