Kalimika, or jumping tamarins, as their older name sounds, has been bred by the Olomouc Zoo since 1997. Last year, the zoo said goodbye to a male and a female, and is now starting to assemble a new breeding pair. Only time will tell how they will fare. During the breeding period, only three cubs of these creatures were born in the Olomouc Zoo.
A newly assembled pair of calims
Photo: Olomouc Zoo
“In the past year, we said goodbye to a male and a female. Both lived to a very old age in our zoo, but the female was the record holder at twenty-five years of age. We brought a young male from the Walter Zoo in Switzerland to the recently acquired female from the Ljubljana Zoo, thereby obtaining a young a promising couple and also the recommendation of the coordinator for the reproduction of this species in our zoo. These are calm and balanced animals, and we succeeded in joining them after a very short acquaintance,” says zoologist Jitka Vokurková.
Kalimika belongs to the so-called clawed monkeys, which have transformed nails into claws. This species was first described in 1904 and is the only representative of the genus Callimico. It is slightly larger than other clawed monkeys. It can climb very well and jump up to a distance of four meters. After an average gestation period of 144-159 days, the female usually gives birth to a single young, rather than twins as in other marmosets and tamarins. Another peculiarity is that, in the first weeks of life, the young are cared for and carried mainly by the mother. The father and the other members of the group only participate in the education later. The cubs are nursed for three months, at which time they already start looking for food on their own. They mature in the second year of life. Unlike other species of the Callitrichidae family, a male can mate with multiple females in one group, but the females become aggressive towards each other and fight for dominance. They have the ability to give birth twice a year. Half-yearly births occur regularly in farms and less often in the wild, and are attributed to postpartum estrus, which allows the female to become pregnant very early. The availability of mushrooms – their important food source – also contributes to these multiple births
Kalimikas are found in the wild in the northwest of South America, specifically inhabiting the thickets and ground floors of the primeval forests of Bolivia, Brazil and Peru, where they often descend to the ground in order to search for food. In the wild, they are threatened by the loss of their natural habitat due to deforestation. In their food, fruits, flowers and tree sap are represented to a lesser extent, and insects, spiders, eggs and smaller vertebrate species to a greater extent. Mushrooms make up the majority of their food, even in the dry season they are represented in the food by up to 40%. They are the only tropical primates known to depend on this food source. Group members emit hisses, trills, and long chirps to show threat or dominance. Expected lifespan is up to eighteen years.
