Point of interest
Cotton-top tamarin
A small Colombian monkey with a white crest and shared family care.
Content language
The cotton-top tamarin has a conspicuous crest of long white hair on its head. This small primate comes from northwestern Colombia. Its natural habitat is forest, where it spends much of its life in the trees.
Its long tail helps with balance but is not prehensile: the animal cannot use it like an extra hand to hold a branch. Claw-like nails help it move along trunks and branches, unlike the flat nails of many other monkeys.
The tamarin is active during the day. Its varied diet includes fruit and insects, as well as plant sap and nectar. Small size does not mean relying on just one kind of food.
It lives in a family group, where raising young is not solely the mother’s job. Other group members help carry the infants. At night, the animals gather in sheltered places in trees, including the forks of branches.
For children
A tamarin’s white crest is not a hat. It is long hair growing on its head. This small monkey comes from Colombia’s forests in South America. It spends plenty of time in trees, moving around with the help of claw-like nails.
It also has a long tail. The tail helps it balance, but cannot grip branches. During the day, the tamarin searches for fruit, insects, nectar and plant sap. It lives in a family group. When babies arrive, other family members help carry them. At night, the monkeys rest together in a sheltered place, such as a fork between the branches of a tree.
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