An adorable monkey native to the Amazon that is threatened with extinction has found a new home in a zoo in Switzerland.
Video footage from the Zurich Zoo in Switzerland showed that the little Goeldi’s marmoset (Callimico goeldii) has adapted well among its group members in the zoo’s Exotarium on Tuesday, 31st January 2023.
The small nine-inch monkey that is native to the upper Amazon basin region of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, has been classified as ‘vulnerable’ on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species.
They reportedly ‘earned’ the status due to habitat loss because of deforestation and illegal gold mines in their inhabited areas in the wilderness.
It was reportedly named after famous Swiss-Brazilian naturalist and zoologist Emil August Goeldi after he first described it 1904.
The species reportedly lives in small groups of up to 12 members, in which females typically give birth to only one offspring.
All group members are reportedly responsible for providing the offspring with foods predominantly based on fruits, tree sap, mushrooms and insects.
In their native South America, Goeldi’s marmosets can often be seen accompanied with other species of monkeys which offers them greater protection against predators.
Zurich Zoo said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “Goeldi’s marmosets are perfectly adapted to life in the undergrowth.
“Long hind legs allow them jumps of four metres and this with a body length of only 25 centimetres (9.8 inches).
“This performance is comparable to athletes who could jump almost 30 metres (11.8 inches) in long jump or high jump.
“Goeldi’s marmosets usually move through the forest at a height of four to five metres (13 to 16 feet) and are almost never found in the treetops.”
The Goeldi’s monkeys at the Zurich Zoo are reportedly a part of the EAZA Ex situ programme (EEP) which aims to maintain and conserve their populations across the continent.
Zoo officials revealed that the species will be moved to the new Pantanal aviary enclosure soon.
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Story By: Georgina Jadikovska, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash
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