Cotton Top Tamarins are named after their large white crest of hair which extends from their forehead to their shoulders. In many German speaking countries the cotton-top tamarin is commonly known as Lisztaffe (“Liszt monkey”) due to its resemblance to the hairstyle of Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt.
Like most monkeys Cotton Top Tamarins display a wide variety of social behaviours such as forming a clear hierarchy where only the dominant pairs breed. The female normally gives birth to twins and they have been studied for their high level of cooperative care, getting most of the troop involved in raising the baby. Communication between cotton-top tamarins is also sophisticated and shows evidence of grammatical structure, a language feature that must be acquired.
Up to 40,000 cotton-top tamarins are thought to have been caught and exported for use in biomedical research before 1976, when CITES gave them the highest level of protection and all international trade was banned. Proyecto Tití is a conservation program which is now helping raise awareness and helping to conserve these charismatic monkeys. Find out more about their work here.
IUCN Red List status: Critically Endangered.
This species is listed as Critically Endangered due to a severe reduction in population, estimated to be greater than 80% over the past 3 generations due to destruction of habitat. It is thought there is only around 6000 individuals left in the wild making them one of the rarest species of monkey.
