Cotton-top Tamarin

Meet one of the smallest primates in the world, the Cotton-top Tamarin!

Status

Critically endangered
Size

Up to 0.4 kg
Distribution

Colombia
Diet

Omnivore

Easily recognisable by their eccentric looking long white crested hairstyle, Cotton-top Tamarins are one of three Amazonian species of Tamarin. Cotton-tops live in a small forested areas of Northwestern Colombia. They forage through the middle forest canopy to find fruits and small insects to eat.

In the late 1960s almost 30,000 Cotton-top Tamarins were exported to the USA for biomedical research. Today, deforestation and human activity poses the greatest threat to this species. Colombia is losing its tropical rainforest at a dramatic rate due to deforestation and agriculture.