A small monkey of northwestern Colombia, distinguished by long white hair flowing from the head toward the shoulders.
Long white hair runs from the forehead to the back of the neck, above a brown back.
Captive cotton-top tamarins can coordinate their actions to obtain food. One can hold a handle extended while its partner pulls the opposite handle, allowing both to receive a reward.
Research published in 2005 tested four unrelated male–female pairs at the University of Wisconsin, USA. Each pair had lived together for at least three years. A transparent apparatus had opposing handles; fully extending both at the same time released one food reward to each side. After training in handle pulling and resistance, the four pairs achieved an average success rate of approximately ninety-seven percent.
The two animals also succeeded by starting their pulls at different times. One held a handle extended for at least a second until its partner pulled the other one. Excluding one pair that was highly efficient from the start, the remaining three obtained a higher proportion of rewards through these sustained pulls in the later test sessions. One animal’s held pull overlapped with its partner’s action.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In Colombia, capture for the pet trade and conversion of forests into ranches, farms and urban areas threaten cotton-top tamarins. Proyecto Tití works to protect, restore and connect forests. Its supporting organization, the Wildlife Conservation Network, reports that more than sixteen thousand native tree saplings were planted in 2025 to restore over forty hectares. The program also provides farmers with materials and agricultural training in exchange for agreements to protect parts of their properties as tamarin habitat, connecting private forest corridors to a larger reserve.