Goeldi's monkey

Summary

Goeldi's monkey is a zoological puzzle. It is small and looks rather like a tamarin and like them, has claws rather than nails on the fingers. But its teeth and skull shape are more like the bigger New World primates, such as capucins. It is now thought to be in a separate group of primates, distantly related to both tamarins and capucins. 

Goeldi's monkey was one of the last species of monkey to be discovered by western explorers. It was discovered by.... yes, you guessed it, a Swiss naturalist called Emilio Goeldi, in 1904. 

In December 2015, we welcomed a baby Goeldi's monkey to family, you can visit our Goeldi's monkeys in Zona Brazil.

Dietary

Goeldi's monkey feeds on fruits, insects and small animals. 

While most of the time is spent in the trees, Goeldi's monkeys will come down to the ground, especially when looking for insects or vertebrates.

Habitat

Goeldi's monkeys come from the Amazon Basin regions of Columbia, Bolivia, Brazil and Peru.

They have long tails used for balance as they move through the dense forest and long limbs for climbing and hanging in the trees. They race through the forest looking for fruiting trees, often in the company of other species of marmosets and tamarins.

Conservation

Goeldi’s monkey are under threat from deforestation for logging, farming, oil and gas enterprises. They are classed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species.

IUCN Red List species link

Did you know...

Goeldi's monkeys are very confident and have a surprising 'fight not flight' mentality for such a small monkey. They will conduct a visual display of dominance if they feel threatened - warding off predators by jumping in a synchronised pattern.

Where to find us at Bristol Zoo

You can find our Goeldi’s monkeys inside Zona Brazil