Updated March, 2025
On June 30, 2021 two baby cotton-top tamarins, a male named Denim and a female named Linen, were born to Darren and Mariquita.  At the time they were living behind the scenes in our Wildlife Amphitheater while the South American Pavilion was closed during a construction project to install a new air conditioning and heating system.  When the Pavilion re-opened to the public on Thanksgiving weekend everyone got to see the babies for the first time.   They are now less than almost 4 year old and adult sized.  Watch the video clip below to see them in action when they were babies. 

According to the IUCN Redlist there are an estimated 2000 cotton-top tamarins left in the wild where they live only in tropical forest habitat in northern Columbia.   To help save this species our Zoo has been supporting Proyecto Tití, a conservation program for the cotton-top tamarin in Colombia conducting a long-term field study on this species in collaboration with Colombian biologists, educators, NGO’s and government authorities.   

The principal threats to their survival are the accelerating loss of suitable habitat and continuing live capture for the pet trade. According to the most recent data provided by Global Forest Watch, the annual loss of forest cover in all five Colombian areas where cotton-tops survive has increased dramatically over the last three years, doubling and even tripling the rate for the previous three years.

To learn more and support conservation efforts check out our blog post from Proyecto Tití.

Rick LoBello, Education Curator

Cover – Schristia, Wikimedia Creative Commons
Top – Russell Street, Wikimedia Creative Commons
Bottom – El Paso Zoo, Wikimedia Creative Commons