This is another new world monkey that I had fallen in love with on my last trip to the zoo. I managed to get better photographs this time around. This tiny fella is the Cotton Topped Tamarin.
The cotton topped tamarin is strikingly marked with the long back fur dark brown, the fur on the underside pure white and the face black with a collar of rufous fur. "Cotton-topped" refers to the prominent crest of white hair that extends back over the head and from ear to ear. They are considered one of the bare-faced tamarins because of the lack of facial hair. Their lower canine teeth are longer than their incisors, so it seems as if they have small tusks. These monkeys are about the size of a squirrel and weigh 10-18 ounces. The males are only slightly larger than females. A medium cotton-top tamarin weighs 432 gms. Tamarins are among the smallest of the primates. Head body length of this species is 17 cm and tail length is 25 cm. Forelimbs are shorter than the hind limbs. The thumb is not opposable and the tail is not prehensile. All the finger and toe nails are like claws except for the big toe which has a flat nail.
The cotton-topped tamarin are found from southeastern Costa Rica in Central America to northwestern Colombia, South America. They prefer dense vegetation with lots of vines where insects are numerous.
The cotton topped tamarin is strikingly marked with the long back fur dark brown, the fur on the underside pure white and the face black with a collar of rufous fur. "Cotton-topped" refers to the prominent crest of white hair that extends back over the head and from ear to ear. They are considered one of the bare-faced tamarins because of the lack of facial hair. Their lower canine teeth are longer than their incisors, so it seems as if they have small tusks. These monkeys are about the size of a squirrel and weigh 10-18 ounces. The males are only slightly larger than females. A medium cotton-top tamarin weighs 432 gms. Tamarins are among the smallest of the primates. Head body length of this species is 17 cm and tail length is 25 cm. Forelimbs are shorter than the hind limbs. The thumb is not opposable and the tail is not prehensile. All the finger and toe nails are like claws except for the big toe which has a flat nail.
The cotton-topped tamarin are found from southeastern Costa Rica in Central America to northwestern Colombia, South America. They prefer dense vegetation with lots of vines where insects are numerous.
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