NEWQUAY Zoo is celebrating the birth of two critically endangered palm-sized primates.

The twin cotton-top tamarins were born at the attraction to first-time parents Febe and Santiago on April 3.

These palm-sized primates, each weighing about the same as a chicken egg at birth, are already capturing hearts as they cling tightly to their parents.

Both Febe, aged two, and Santiago, aged three, are sharing parenting duties, often seen each carrying one of the twins and attentively caring for their new arrivals.

Cotton-top tamarins in their natural habitat live in tightly bonded social groups where the care of young is a shared responsibility. This behaviour, known as cooperative care, involves multiple group members contributing to the rearing of offspring.

Maternal behaviours in tamarins are not solely instinctive—they are learned through observation and experience within the group. Such collective caregiving is critical to the survival and healthy development of the infants, especially in the early stages of life.

Native to the tropical forests of northwest Colombia, cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) are among the world’s most endangered primates. Their wild population is now estimated at fewer than 2,000 individuals with over 80 per cent of their habitat lost to deforestation and ongoing threats from the illegal wildlife trade,

They are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, and breeding programmes in accredited zoos like Newquay Zoo are vital to ensuring their survival.