In December 2020, a pair of emperor tamarins at Vienna's Tiergarten Schönbrunn became first-time parents to triplets. The mother, Tamaya, and the father, Purple, produced three babies born on 1 December, each roughly five centimetres long when the zoo shared its first photos in January 2021. That is about the length of a human thumb, which is why so many reports compared them to a thimble.
What made the story so charming was not only the size of the babies. Emperor tamarins are one of the few primates in which the father does most of the carrying, and the photos showed tiny faces peeking out from Purple's back. Here is what happened in Vienna, and what the birth tells us about one of the Amazon's most recognisable small monkeys.
The Vienna triplets at a glance
Zoo director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck, who took over at Schönbrunn in 2020, announced the birth when the babies were just under six weeks old. Keepers had not yet checked whether the youngsters were male or female; with animals this small and this firmly attached to a parent, staff usually wait rather than handle them early.
In his statement, the director pointed to the feature visitors notice first. As he put it, "the hallmark of this marmoset species is its long, white moustache, which both males and females wear." Even at a few weeks old, the triplets already showed a faint trace of it.
A short clip released with the announcement shows the family in their enclosure:
Why the father does the carrying
Tamarins and marmosets belong to a family called Callitrichidae, and they raise young in an unusual way. Twins are the normal birth outcome, and infants are heavy relative to the mother's own body weight of only a few hundred grams. Carrying them all day would cost her a great deal of energy while she is also producing milk.
The solution is shared care. In emperor tamarins, males spend the most time with the infants and often carry them while the breeding female forages. Older offspring in a family group can help too. The mother takes the babies mainly to nurse, then hands them back.
The zoo described exactly this pattern on its Facebook page in January 2021: Purple kept the trio on his back most of the day, and Tamaya took over at feeding time. Good News Network quoted the director: "Most of the time the father carries the kittens on his back." ("Kittens" is a literal rendering of the German word keepers used for the babies.) Within a few weeks, the post added, the youngsters were growing bolder and making their first climbing attempts.
Unsere Kaiserschurrbarttamarine-Drillinge 🧡 halten vor allem Vater Purple ordentlich auf Trab. 🐒 Bei den bärtigen Affen...
Posted by Zoo Vienna Schönbrunn on Wednesday, 6 January 2021
Where emperor tamarins live and what they eat
Emperor tamarins (Saguinus imperator) come from the south-western Amazon Basin, in Peru, Bolivia and the Brazilian states of Acre and Amazonas. Adults weigh around 400 to 500 grams, about as much as a can of soup, and the tail is longer than the body.
Families usually number between two and eight animals, though larger groups have been recorded. They live in the middle and lower layers of the forest and often travel alongside saddle-back tamarins, a different species that shares their range. Mixed groups like this may spot predators more easily.
Their diet is broader than older articles suggest. Fruit is important, but so are flowers, nectar, plant gums and saps, and small animal prey such as insects and the occasional frog. The claim that they live mainly on nuts does not match field studies.
Where the "emperor" name really comes from
A common story says the monkey was named after Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck was a chancellor, though, not an emperor. The usual explanation, repeated by Wikipedia and many zoo guides, is that the drooping white whiskers reminded people of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German emperor, who wore a famously upturned moustache. The name began as a joke and stuck.
Both sexes grow the moustache, and it serves no confirmed purpose beyond being a striking visual signal.
Is the species endangered?
The IUCN lists the emperor tamarin as Least Concern, which means it is not currently considered at high risk of extinction. Its population is nonetheless thought to be decreasing because of deforestation, road building and settlement in the western Amazon. Zoo breeding programmes in Europe and North America help keep a healthy captive population and support education, while the real future of the species depends on forest protection in South America.
A short history of Schönbrunn Zoo
The Vienna triplets were born in a place with an unusually long record. Tiergarten Schönbrunn began in 1752 as an imperial menagerie in the grounds of Schönbrunn Palace, commissioned for Francis I (Franz Stephan of Lorraine), and it is generally described as the oldest zoo still operating anywhere. That makes 2022, not 2021, its 270th anniversary year.
Today the zoo covers about 17 hectares and houses thousands of animals from several hundred species. It is part of the palace ensemble that UNESCO listed as a World Heritage Site in 1996, and it is known for giant panda births and for taking part in conservation work such as the reintroduction of the northern bald ibis.
What to take away from the tamarin family
- Small primates often have shared parenting. In tamarins, fathers and older siblings are not optional helpers; the system depends on them.
- Viral numbers need context. "Thimble-sized" describes the babies at a few weeks old; they grow quickly in their first months.
- Names can mislead. The "emperor" in the name points to Wilhelm II, not Bismarck.
- Seeing them in person. If you visit a zoo with tamarins, watch which adult carries the young. In most family groups it will be a male.
Sources: Good News Network (Ailsa Ross; photos SWNS), Tiergarten Schönbrunn, Zoo Vienna Schönbrunn on Facebook, Wikipedia: Emperor tamarin, Wikipedia: Tiergarten Schönbrunn.
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