The Emperors are mainly gray on their bodies, with a mixture of fine yellow hair on their backs and a rusty-red scattering of color on their breast. They also have a silvery brown crown, black hands and feet, and a reddish white moustache that hangs down to its chest in two strands. Like most tamarins, this species has claws on all of its fingers and toes except the great toe, which has a nail.
Emperor tamarins are active by day and are very graceful, friendly, and playful monkeys.
They are leapers in their motor behavior and move through trees with rather quick, jerky movements. Saguinas imperator is found in various forms of light, dry-bottom to densely grown Amazonian forest margins in seasonally inundated regious. Their territories are between 75-100 acres and also span open woodlands and secondary growth. This species is arboreal, spending most of its time in trees, usually below 80-95 feet elevation. The father usually helps with the baby s birth, receiving it at the end of partruition and washing it.