A baby boom is expected at a Sunshine Coast zoo, which has already ushered in the new year with tiny twins.
Several babies were likely to be welcomed to Wildlife HQ in 2023 and some newcomers have already arrived, with a pair of emperor tamarins making their entrance on New Year’s Day.
“Wildlife HQ is expecting 2023 to be the year of the babies,” zookeeper Sue Tonga said via a media release.
“We have spent the last few years creating new primate habitats and pairing up endangered primates.
“This year, we can look forward to the results of our hard work and expect to have baby siamangs, white-cheeked gibbons, lemurs and marmosets.”
The zoo announced the tamarins’ arrival on social media.
“We are thrilled by the new additions and can’t wait to see what else the new year has in store for us. Hopefully, plenty more animal births on the way.”
The tamarins were the first offspring of Pedro and Santiago and were yet to be named.
Zoo CEO Jarrod Schenk said staff were delighted to welcome them.
“We are very excited to have the new additions to the zoo family,” he said.
“Pedro and Santiago were paired up towards the beginning of 2022 as part of a national breeding program for this endangered species.
“We can now expect the pair to continue to produce twins every six months.
“Before we know it, the family unit will have gone from a pair to a dozen animals.
“Each set of twins will help the parents care for the next offspring and learn valuable parenting and life skills.”
Emperor Tamarins are among the smallest monkeys, only 25cm in length and 500g in weight.
They are native to the southwest Amazon basin and are easily identified by their long, white whiskers that resemble a moustache.
They are threatened by habitat destruction and are collected from the wild for the pet trade, so the growing family at Wildlife HQ is crucial to the species’ future.
“We are very excited that Pedro and Santiago will be able to build a family here at Wildlife HQ under the care of our zoo-keeping team,” Mr Schenk said.
“Some of the offspring may one day move to other zoos to start families of their own in years to come.”
Visitors can see the emperor family on display in the habitat adjacent to the cafe.
As the babies grow, they will start to adventure off their parents back and explore the exhibit.
Emperor tamarins are naturally curious so will want to see the visitors too.
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