Tumultuous Tamarins on Zoo EMS

During a zoo placement in France, I had the opportunity to follow two twin tamarins who were creating some real trouble in the small primate area.

I arrived the first day and the vet, Adeline, told me: “Ok, now Jenna, you’re going to help us with an ethology study that created us quite a lot of trouble.” I was quite excited, grabbed my notebook and my walkie-talkie and followed the vet to the Tamarins enclosure. The moment I arrived I could hear some hissing and troubling vocalisations. A tall lady welcomed us, she was Annie, the carer of those very noisy Tamarins. She quickly explained to me the situation: “This one is Nazca, with the fluffy tail and the other one is Tahuan, with the missing finger. They have lived together for four years. We received them last year, but they started fighting in April. Since then we separated them as one ate the finger of the other.”

Adeline took over the explanation continuing: “We implanted them with a new contraceptive implant in April, thinking that the effect of the old one had worn off as it was two years old. We are now following a protocol of rehabilitation of those Tamarins so they can be put in contact again. We just finished phase one of full isolation from each other. We are in phase two where they can see and hear each other through a window. I’d like you to observe them for the next two weeks and notify me when you think we can pass to phase three, which will consist of putting a new separation between the Tamarins and allowing them to smell each other.”

The first day Tahuan was in the outdoor enclosure and Nazca was in. She spent her time marking her territory on branches, and emitting loud and long vocalisations as if she was searching for her sister. However, it was too early for me to interpret anything as I didn’t know them yet. The second day, Nazca was the one out in the enclosure. I discovered a little Tamarin that had a very strong personality and seemed way more active than her sister. She kept going in front of Tahuan’s enclosure, trying to get in, vocalising and marking. She also seemed to bring a lot of attention to Annie who was working behind. I therefore thought that this might be a problem of jealousy from Nazca who may want full attention from Annie.

During the weekend I decided to do some more research. I discovered that Tamarins often fight between twins, but that it is often hard to calm the situation down. Long vocalisations and markings are often made to reestablish a new hierarchy. I also found that their implant should only show changes in behaviour in the first week after implantation. However, the implantation being three weeks old, this hypothesis was less likely to be the right one. I came back on Monday quite hopeless. However, Tahuan and Nazca decided to treat me to a very peaceful situation: the occurrence of vocalisations and markings had gone down, and I could even see the two looking at each other through the window on the same level!

I went to Annie to announce the good news. She was pleased and after a discussio we decided we could pass to the phase three of the protocol once the adequate separation would be ready. Two days after, I was at the vet lab preparing milk for some baby wallabies when I heard on my walkie-talkie: “Jenna, for Annie, We have the separation!”. This day was going to be exciting for sure. After I took care of the wallabies, I rushed to the Tamarin enclosure where the atmosphere was a mix of excitement and stress. How would the two sisters react? Would it be positive? Once the separation was in place, we left the enclosure and went to the back area to observe them quietly. The two examined the separation, but as soon as they realised they were closer to each other a ballet of hissing and scruffy hair just began. But after ten minutes the situation calmed down and the two sisters went about their daily activities. The novelty of the separation was probably what caused the trouble, but the situation was very positive overall.

This was my last day at the zoo and the experience was very nice and full of excitement. Annie told me she would keep me updated on the situation. I can’t wait to find out what happened to those two, who hopefully found a common ground!

Jenna Pacini Uni of Surrey, 4th year