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Munchkinland
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Munchkinland, home to Jungle Friends' 90 tamarins and marmosets (whom we lovingly refer to as the "Munchkins"), sure has grown since I started at Jungle Friends!
Over the last couple years, we've taken in a whopping 64 cotton-top tamarins after their retirement from lab research- considering that there were only about 35 monkeys in Munchkinland before their arrival, that really is a lot!
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Rosa and Timber
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While that kind of growth has come with its challenges, they pale in comparison to the joy of watching so many monkeys experience an almost-wild life for the first time.
I, for one, will never forget watching some of those poor tamarins try to go through their outdoor runways, only to walk face-first into a spider web for the first time!
Or watching them climb their very first tree or catch their first bug.
These days though, every last one of those monkeys will happily run up and down their runways, not even flinching when they take a spider web to the face. I can't tell you how happy it makes us to see these monkeys embracing their new life so fully, and we hope they're enjoying their retirement half as much as we are!
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| Kiefer and Raya |
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It hasn't been all about the cotton-tops in Munchkinland, though. Some of you may remember Kiefer, one of our many arrivals of last year. This poor little marmoset was found by a cleaning crew in an apartment a few days after the family had moved out, but lucky for him they contacted Jungle Friends and we had the space to take him right away! He took to his new home right away, and never ceases to amaze us with his high energy acrobatics. In May, we socialized him with Raya, a four year old retired lab marmoset whose partner had recently passed away. To our delight, it was love at first sight for those two monkeys!
Kiefer and
Raya have been together ever since, and we love watching the two of them fly around their habitat together.
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Penny |
Another Munchkin Love story has been between
Penny and
BoBo. Both of these marmoset youngsters arrived at Jungle Friends in 2015 and it was clear from the beginning that they would be the cutest couple! Playing matchmaker is one of the most satisfying parts of our work here at Jungle Friends, and nothing compares to the satisfaction of helping two single monkeys find happiness together.
As always, we thank you for your support of what we do. Without your help, Jungle Friends wouldn't be able to provide such a loving home for so many monkeys.
Please Sponsor a monkey today
to continue supporting our work!
