Cotton-top Tamarin

At a Glance

With fewer than 7,000 individuals left in the wild, Cotton-top Tamarins are one of the most endangered primates on Earth.

Cotton-top Tamarins learn essential skills from their family groups. Young tamarins practice caregiving by carrying their baby siblings and learn what foods are safe by begging from adults. While feeding on nectar they can act as accidental pollinators, carrying pollen on their faces from flower to flower, and they communicate using more than 30 distinct calls, with young tamarins even “babbling” as they learn how to use them.

In northern Colombia, conservationists are working to protect what remains of the tropical dry forest habitat Cotton-top Tamarins depend on. Decades of deforestation and conversion for cattle ranching, agriculture and urban development have reduced the scope of this monkey’s natural habitat down to pockets of small, disconnected forest ‘islands.’

These clusters of forest are invaluable examples of a rare and highly threatened ecosystem in Colombia. They are critical to the Cotton-top Tamarins’ survival, but on their own are not enough to ensure healthy population growth for this species. Isolated in smaller forest clumps, there is less food to go around, it is harder to flee from predators, and there is increased likelihood of inbreeding.

Cotton-top Tamarins are also targeted by the illegal pet trade, but the good news is there are already efforts in place to give this monkey a second chance.The Cotton-top Tamarin and the dry forest habitat they depend on are protected under Colombian law, and the species is listed on CITES Appendix I, which prohibits international trade of wildlife. Scientists and conservation organizations work to expand and strengthen habitat protections, and work with local communities to develop economic alternatives that take outside pressure off of the forest.

You may also be interested in

Río Faisanes Harlequin Toad

Red Pencilfish

Goma de Canaquil Tree