IUCN: Endangered

• Cotton-top tamarins get their name from the long fanlike crests of white hair on their heads.  They are one of the smallest monkeys in the world.
• The cotton-top tamarin is diurnal (awake during the day) and arboreal (live in trees). They live in multi-male, multi-female groups and display aggression and dominance by standing up on two legs.
• Weighing only 350-450g, cotton-top tamarins can leap up to three metres horizontally.
• Cotton-top tamarins will drink sap from trees which have been scored by other animals.
• Although fully protected, on-going habitat destruction is still affecting numbers in the wild. Poachers still take tamarins from their forest homes to sell as pets on the black market. Cotton top tamarins were also traditionally used for medical training purposes, this practise is now banned.