Cotton Head Tamarin Day on 15 August

15 August 2018

This amazing and wonderfully cute little monkey lives in the rainforests of Colombia and belongs to the cloven-hoofed monkeys. Due to human encroachment, the environments they live in are being destroyed and the cotton-top tamarin is now an endangered species. Their numbers have declined by 80% in the last 18 years and today there are only around 2000 sexually mature individuals left.

Parken Zoo is involved in the conservation of the cotton-top tamarins through participation in the European Conservation Breeding Programme, but also by supporting the Cotton-top Tamarin Conservation Club and Proyecto Titì projects, which work with the species in the wild. Since its inception in 1985, Proyecto Titì has been committed to raising public awareness of the plight of the cotton-top tamarin through a range of projects involving many individuals and organisations. The celebration of the day of the cotton-top tamarin is part of this work and is a day of festivities in Colombia. In 2018, the cotton-top tamarin has also been the mascot of the 23rd Central American and Caribbean Games to further draw attention to this little monkey.

Here at Parken Zoo, we celebrated the day with ice cream and sweets fit for a little monkey, i.e. grapes and frozen fruit spread.