Marmosets: UK wildlife charity celebrates first twins while US scientists release complete genome

Shaldon Wildlife Trust in South Devon announced the birth of twin Eastern Pygmy Marmosets, the first successful breeding of the species at the centre in 11 years. The infants, born on 9 July 2026 to parents Pablo and Tumble, weigh about 15 g each and are being cared for primarily by the father, a behavior typical of the species. Director Zak Showell highlighted the milestone for conservation awareness during the summer visitor season.

Separately, researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz Genomics Institute have produced the first complete genome of the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). Led by doctoral student Prajna Hebbar and Benedict Paten as part of the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium, the work was published in *Cell* and is expected to accelerate studies of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s by providing a high‑resolution reference for biomedical research.