COLCHESTER Zoo's team has said it is "excited" to welcome its newest species to the site who have "settled in well" with their new housemate.
The troop of four female eastern pygmy marmosets arrived from Chester Zoo last week.
Queenie, Nursie, Bob and Maria Escalosa – named after characters from Blackadder - moved in with female Golden-lion tamarin, Lily, at Canopy of South America.
It is the first time the zoo has housed this species at the site, however, it was once home to a pair of common pygmy marmosets back in 2016.
In an update from the zoo, it has said the quartet is settling in.
Rebecca Moore, Zoological Director at Colchester Zoo, said: “The Animal Care Team is so excited to welcome pygmy marmosets back to Colchester Zoo after eight years.
“The four of them are sisters and they’re now living with Lily our female golden lion.
“Although small herself, Lily looks large in comparison to the tiny pygmy marmosets, which are the smallest monkey in the world, but they seem to have settled in well and used to Lily bouncing overhead.”
The eldest out of the females is Queenie who was born on August 7, 2020, followed by twins Nursie and Bob on May 4, 2021 and Maria Escalosa on October 5, 2021.
Eastern pygmy marmosets are listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Specieswith their home currently under threat from deforestation.
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