Bhubaneswar: The lone male tamarin, a species of squirrel-sized monkeys, died at Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) here Friday.
NZP authorities had brought a pair of tamarins from Madurai Zoo at a cost of Rs 3 lakh March 25, 2018.
“The small-sized monkey was not keeping well for the past couple of days. Besides, there was no dedicated enclosure at NZP for the species for which the duo was quarantined at the zoo’s veterinary unit,” said a zoo veterinarian who spotted the monkey lifeless early in the morning.
The carcass has been sent for an autopsy. “The exact cause of the death could be ascertained only after the report comes,” said assistant conservator of forests (ACF) Agyan Kumar Mohanty.
Notably, one of the tamarins had escaped the quarantine August 2 last year. However, the zoo authorities managed to get hold of it from a nearby guava tree after a four-day effort, a zoo keeper said.
