KEEPER NOTE Cotton-top Tamarin

SPECIAL NOTE 11/28/2020 – Allowed access to night house due to weather, may not be visible.

“Is that a real monkey?”

Tamarins are indeed real monkeys, although they look like they could be more related to squirrels. They are also one of the few matriarchal societies, meaning that the female of the species is in charge, as opposed to the males.

These small New World monkeys were once used for bio-medical research, but are now so critically endangered that even the transport of these animals is banned by all countries. Sadly, because of heavy deforestation in their native country of Columbia, their numbers continue to decline. There are more tamarins in zoos and refuges than there are in wild.