Trip to the Zoo

I took my mother to visit the National Zoo today. I have visited the few a handful of times before, but this time I spent quite a bit of time in the Small Mammal House. Here are a few of the animals we saw:

White-Faced Saki

The white-faced saki, also known as the Guianan saki and the golden-faced saki, is a species of saki monkey, a type of New World monkey, found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. This species lives in the understory and lower canopy of the forest, feeding mostly on fruits, but also eating nuts, seeds, and insects.

Golden Lion Tamarin

The golden lion tamarin is diurnal and primarily arboreal, forming small groups of patrols with a consistent territory of around 400,000 square metres (100 acres). Fighting between groups is avoided by scent marking and ritual encounters. By night, the tamarins sleep in abandoned nesting holes in trees, or in large bromeliads.



Pale-faced saki (left), golden lion tamarin (right). Photos by Kevin Borland. Portions of text derived from Wikipedia.