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WORKING tOGETHER continued

GEOFFROY’S MARMOSET Since they live in family groups, you never want one animal to
live alone. Also, if a group loses both parents, the social group will
Sheila Wojciehowski, a senior keeper of primates, often break down. I had a 19-year-old mom with six kids. I knew
is the studbook keeper and SSP coordinator for the she wouldn’t live much longer, so I warned the institution to be
Geoffroy’s marmoset. She documents and manages prepared for a change in social dynamics.
about 100 animals living in 26 institutions.
You don’t have to have all the answers. I have a nutrition
As SSP coordinator, you want everybody to be happy—every zoo, advisor and a vet advisor. Both those people are at Philadelphia
every zoo keeper, and every individual animal. Institutions tell Zoo and are very knowledgeable. I can elect other advisors too.
you what they want and you try to give it to them. You take and You rely on your own experiences with the species and you’ve
prioritize requests from institutions. An institution might say they heard stories from different zoos. If a zoo calls me and says their
want to do more breeding, or they don’t want to breed, or they want animal is diabetic, I can say, “I know another zoo that has a
a larger group of animals, or they don’t want to exhibit the animals diabetic animal and you can ask them how they’re treating it.”
any more. It’s not always possible to give every zoo what they want.
I publish the studbook every three years. At that time, I
You work with a lot of variables. Our breeding recommendations reach out to every institution and make sure I have 100 percent
are based on the target population size. My target population size accurate records for them. I work with a population biologist
for marmosets is 125. I currently have 100, so I’m supposed to grow from the Population Management Center. My last advisor was
the population. But I don’t have enough space for 125 animals in my from San Diego Zoo. She goes through my studbook and tells
institutions yet. me how much inbreeding I have in my population and gives me
statistics on birth rates and death rates. She’ll say, “You have 100
Because Geoffroy’s marmosets are smaller monkeys, people animals, X percent genetic diversity, and X percent inbreeding.
tend to think they don’t need much space. For example, an Your population will last for X number of years.” Based on these
institution might tell me they want a large group of 15 animals. statistics, she will tell me how many animals I should breed in
I’ll say, “What size enclosure do you have?” Then I might say, order to maintain or grow my population.
“With that size enclosure, you’d better stop at around 8 or 10,
or you’ll risk your group breaking apart.” I usually try to keep a We’ll also go through each institution. We look at who is
group to around eight max, depending on the size of the enclosure. related to whom, who should breed, and who shouldn’t.
If there are too many animals and not enough space, marmosets An institution could have 14 animals and there will be a
will not be happy. recommendation for each one. I send the recommendations
to my contact person at each zoo.
One of my jobs is to make sure every animal lives in a
social group with compatible animals. People don’t realize how To be able to look at the whole North American population
complicated social dynamics are for marmosets. They live in and make an impact on the species is really amazing! n
big family units—mom, dad, and all their offspring. We had 11
marmosets at the Brookfield Zoo; 8 of them were all in one group.
And it’s my job to make sure everybody gets paired up.

TAG: New World Primates
Wild habitat: Lowland
rain forests of Brazil
Description: Small, squirrel-
like monkeys with long tails
Life expectancy: 10 years
in the wild, up to 18 years
in human care
IUCN Red List Status:
Least Concern

20 GATEWAYS | TAG TEAMS