Competition Winner Names Monkeys
Over the past week Drusillas Park, East Sussex, has been running a competition to name their two beautiful baby cotton-top tamarin twins. The results are now in and Drusillas is proud to announce that the winning names are Machu and Picchu.
The competition received nearly 500 submissions, with lots of people eager to be in with a chance of naming the little monkeys. There were some fantastic entries, and names such as ‘Jovie & Bowie’, ‘Bubble & Squeak’, ‘Cookie and Cream and ‘Gin & Tonic’ ranked among the best.
Drusillas’ competition brief left lots of scope for creativity, with the only guidelines being that the names should pair well together and be gender neutral. The winning entry came from Kirsten White, who carefully picked out South American themed names for the mischievous pair.
Head Keeper, Mark Kenward, commented: “We are thrilled with the new names Kirsten has picked out for our cotton-top twins! Very fitting names as these little monkeys would be found in South America in the wild. Machu and Picchu were great choices and we are excited to tell the duo their new names!”
Cotton-top tamarins are one of the most endangered primates in South America, so the news of Machu and Picchu’s birth has been very exciting indeed.
The cheeky little monkeys have always been a popular attraction at the zoo and the two tiny fluff balls have been delighting visitors and making excellent progress.
Zoo Manager, Sue Woodgate, commented: “We are absolutely thrilled with our new arrivals. These beautiful monkeys are facing serious threat in the wild, and we are in great danger of losing this wonderful and charismatic species altogether. We are just ecstatic that the twins have been born.”
“Habitat destruction is one of the main threats facing cotton-top tamarins in the wild. Deforestation is a major problem for these monkeys; they are losing more and more of their habitat every day as the trees are cleared for timber production, human settlements, agriculture and charcoal production. There is also a huge risk to the tamarins from the illegal wildlife trade.”
Mum, Florencia and Dad, Pasto welcomed Machu and Picchu at the end of last month, but kept the youngsters closely protected for the first few weeks. However, now the twins are a little bigger, they have started to show them off and the lovely pair can be easily spotted in their enclosure.
Zoo Manager, Sue Woodgate commented: “We are absolutely delighted with the new arrivals. Our visitors really love to see the baby monkeys playing with their parents and with each other.”
