Auckland Zoo staff hand-rear tamarins after mum was unable to produce milk

Ripu Bhatia Reporter from Community News

Hi neighbours,

Twin tamarins are thriving at Auckland Zoo after their mum was unable to produce milk, leading to them being hand-reared.

The rare golden lion tamarins, a male and a female, were born to mum Frida on July 17.

Frida was unable to produce milk for her babies, meaning zookeepers had to make the decision, when they were two days old, to hand-rear them instead.

Auckland Zoo primate team leader Amy Robbins said the possibility of needing to hand-rear was already on the table because of Frida’s difficulty in raising offspring in the past.

“Hand-rearing is never a decision we make lightly and there are always risks, but we had strong science-based evidence to inform this call and the full support of this programme’s species coordinator,” Robbins said.