The two 14-year-old Bolivian gray titi monkeys are already showing tail-twining behavior after being paired under an AZA Species Survival Plan breeding recommendation.
Tacama has joined Ocho at Lincoln Park Zoo’s Helen Brach Primate House, where the care team has observed the pair spending time together and twining their tails. — Credit: Nola Pickering
- Female Bolivian gray titi monkey Tacama has joined longtime male resident Ocho at Lincoln Park Zoo’s Helen Brach Primate House.
- The two 14-year-old monkeys have a breeding recommendation through the Bolivian Gray Titi Monkey Species Survival Plan.
- Keepers have already observed tail twining, a characteristic social-bonding behavior in titi monkey pairs.
- The AZA Population Management Center, hosted at Lincoln Park Zoo, conducts analyses that support Species Survival Plan population recommendations.
(NEWS) CHICAGO, Illinois, United States, 2026-Sep-11 — /Travel PR News/ — A new primate pairing at Lincoln Park Zoo is bringing both visitor interest and a conservation-management story to Chicago’s Helen Brach Primate House. Fourteen-year-old female Bolivian gray titi monkey Tacama has joined longtime resident Ocho, also 14, and their care team says the pair is already showing one of the species’ clearest social-bonding behaviors: sitting together with their long tails intertwined.
The zoo announced Tacama’s arrival on September 11, saying she came from another accredited zoo through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Tacama and Ocho have a breeding recommendation through the Bolivian Gray Titi Monkey Species Survival Plan, a cooperative population-management program intended to support healthy and genetically diverse animal populations among participating institutions.
“We’re excited to see such remarkable compatibilities between Ocho and Tacama,” said Dani Fogarty, curator at Lincoln Park Zoo. Fogarty said the monkeys began choosing to spend time together almost immediately after their introduction and are frequently seen sitting on habitat branches with their tails intertwined.
A pairing shaped by cooperative population planning
The recommendation linking Tacama and Ocho is part of the wider Species Survival Plan framework used by AZA-accredited institutions. According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, SSP programs develop breeding and transfer plans designed to manage genetically diverse, demographically varied and biologically sound populations over the long term.
Lincoln Park Zoo also has a direct institutional connection to that work. The AZA Population Management Center, which is hosted at the Chicago zoo, conducts genetic and demographic analyses used to develop population-management recommendations for Species Survival Plans. In Tacama and Ocho’s case, the zoo says the hope is that the recommended pairing will eventually produce offspring.
Bolivian gray titi monkeys naturally live in humid tropical forests and swamps in the southern Amazon River basin. They are highly arboreal and typically form small territorial family groups centered on a monogamous adult pair and their offspring. Females may give birth to a single infant following a gestation of about 160 days, while males take a substantial role in carrying young when they are not nursing.
Tail twining is more than a photogenic moment
For visitors, the pair’s most noticeable behavior may be their intertwined tails. Lincoln Park Zoo describes tail twining as a way titi monkeys reinforce social bonds while sitting beside one another. Their tails can measure roughly 15 to 18 inches, extending beyond an average head-and-body length of about 13 inches, but unlike those of some other monkey species they are not prehensile and cannot grasp objects.
Titi monkey pairs also use coordinated vocal duets to mark territory. The zoo says these calls can carry for up to a kilometer and that the species has an unusually complex and varied vocal repertoire compared with many other neotropical monkeys.
Tacama and Ocho are housed at the Helen Brach Primate House at Lincoln Park Zoo. The zoo is open daily and offers free general admission, giving Chicago visitors an opportunity to see the new pairing while the care team continues to monitor how their relationship develops.
