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http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=52463.45

Tamarins born recently at zoo

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Triplet cotton top tamarins born two weeks ago at the Washington Park Zoo have brought the local family to nine members.

Jamie Huss, zoo assistant director and primate keeper, is giving special attention to baby Chloe, who was found lying on the floor and basically ignored by her mother, who was busy caring for the other two babies.

Huss initially thought Chloe wouldn't stay alive. She's been feeding Chloe with an eye dropper every few hours.

"She's getting over pneumonia," Huss said, "and is on antibiotics."

Just like a human baby, Chloe has a vaporizer and heating pad to help her get better, and is kept in a glassed-in portable nursery. Huss said Chloe was born full-term and weighs only one-tenth of a pound.

She is 6 inches long and has a 6-inch tail. Adults weigh up to 1 1/2 pounds and grow to only 8 inches.

The birth of triplet cotton top tamarins is unusual, according to zoo director Johnnie Martinez. He waited for a few weeks before announcing the birth, to make sure Chloe was healthy.

Martinez said the cotton top tamarins are an endangered species of mini-primates found only in northern Columbia in South America. The total world population is an estimated 2,000 to 3,000.

In the zoo, the cotton top tamarins eat fruits and vegetables, monkey biscuits, meal worms and marmoset diet. They have only one female and one male who reproduce and the entire family helps with the young, carrying infants on their backs. Until she can be reintroduced to her family, Chloe is clinging on to a stuffed teddy bear.

Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Michelle]

Photo change in honor of this occasion!