Cotton-Top Tamarin – Saguinus Oedipus

Habitat: Found in northern Colombia, cotton-top tamarins inhabit tropical forests, including wetlands and dry thorn forests.

Adaptations: Cotton-top tamarins communicate using their facial expressions, postures, hair reaction and high-pitched vocalizations. Acute eyesight, hearing and smell aid in hunting and in detecting danger. Their long tails help keep balance while jumping and climbing, though they cannot swing or grasp with their tails like many South American monkeys can.

Diet: Tamarins feed on fruit, insects and bird eggs. They obtain their drinking water by licking rain or dew off of leaves.

Fun Fact: A tamarin family consists of a mated pair and their offspring, who stay with their parents to help them raise the next set of young. After the female gives birth, she often passes the babies (usually twins) over to the father or one of her older children to carry. This frees her up to find the food she needs in order to produce milk. Cotton-tops have a specific call associated with food preferences. Cotton-tops have a complex vocal repertoire with at least 38 distinct vocalizations.