Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales is thrilled to announce the birth of two new common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). These two tiny little scamps are the most recent success stories following the rescue and rehoming of monkeys from a science laboratory back in 2010.

These new additions come from a, now thriving, family of marmosets who were given a home at Folly Farm during one of the biggest coordinated rehoming exercises in Europe. The continuing growth of the family is proof that these adorable and beautiful monkeys continue to flourish in their new Welsh home.

These minute baby marmosets are just a couple of inches long, no bigger than a human index finger and are proving to be a real treat for visitors to Folly Farm (that’s if they can spot them tucked away in their mum’s fur!).  Baby marmosets are renowned for their cuteness and it’s easy to see why! (Click here to discover why these creatures bring out the “Awww” in even the hardest of hearts.)

To celebrate the birth of Folly’s new furry friends, we thought we’d give you some marmoset facts to enjoy.

• Marmoset families are fascinating and complex. There are usually between 9-15 members in a family, with only 2 breeding females and 1 breeding male. The breeding male and one of the breeding females will share dominance over the group. These two are classified as monogamous, meaning they usually mate for life. The other breeding female, however, is usually less dominant. She is often the daughter of the primary breeding female. She typically mates with males from other social groups, but her offspring may not be strong enough to survive and may not be welcomed into the family group.  Amongst the rest of the group, superiority is based purely on age.

• Because the mating instincts of the rest of the group are repressed behaviorally and psychologically, the brothers and sisters have an incentive to help rear baby marmosets (like these two new arrivals!). By helping to look after the young of the breeding male and female, the rest of the group ensure that their genes are passed on to future generations. This is especially helpful because marmosets usually give birth to non-identical twins, which means they often have their tiny hands full!
• Marmosets are communicative little monkeys. They have a wide range of different calls, cries, signals, gestures, and noises which they use to communicate with each other. They monitor the location and stance of their family members by making a low vibrato-like call known as a ‘trill’.

To find out more about Folly Farm’s growing marmoset family, other new arrivals and all of the wonderful creatures at zoo in wales, please take a look at their fun, interactive website today or – if you find yourself in Wales – why not pop in to meet the creatures in person!

By: Ceri Hughes

Did you see the film yet? What did you think?

You can donate to help orphaned orangutans by clicking here:

http://www.imax.com/borntobewild/carepackage/orangutans-needs.html

You can learn more about Birute Galdikas and the Orangutan Foundation by visiting:

http://www.organutan.org

You may have recently heard news about “Ardi” (Ardipithecus ramidus), which is the oldest and most complete hominid skeleton that has been found to date. Not surprisingly, controversy abounds regarding what this skeleton means for the ancestral trees of apes and humans. See the following video for a quick peek into the ongoing discussion about where to place Ardi on the primate family tree.

FOR MORE ABOUT ARDI, check out Discovery Channel’s interactive website “DISCOVERING ARDI.”

You can also read more about “Lucy” and other primate fossils of Africa near the end of the page in our “Primates of Africa” section.

J.H. Matternes / Science via AFP – Getty Images

Check out this popular YouTube Video of a chimpanzee showing a little excitement at the zoo.

So…what’s going on here? Is the chimp happy, angry, annoyed? Although we can’t know for sure since it is impossible to get into this little guy’s head, scientists can use what we know about wild chimpanzee behavior to proffer a guess as to why he seems to be “going crazy.” Below is a video excerpt from Discovery.com which offers one scientist’s point of view on the display.

Grey langurs (Semnopithecus entellus) are on patrol in India this week, in association with the impending Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Feeling threatened by rampant wildlife near their accommodations, some visiting teams began to threaten to pull out of the games if something wasn’t done quickly to alleviate pest problems in the city. Snakes, wild dogs, and small troops of monkeys are apparently causing quite a disturbance for the athletes, entering rooms for cover or to steal food and sometimes even attacking people in the streets. Solution? Employ large, aggressive langurs that are perfectly capable of driving wildlife away from villages where the athletes are staying. Utilized in India for a variety of purposes, langurs are incredibly intelligent and apparently well suited for such security detail. At time of printing, it is still undetermined as to whether they will be provided with pepper spray and batons.