| Cotton-top tamarin
(Saguinus oedipus oedipus) |
| Morphology, locomotion and diet |
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Although they
prefer to live in the tree-tops, Callitrichids often
descend as far as secondary growth but they usually
do not go down to ground level. Rivers or drier, steppe-like
areas create an insurmountable barrier and this is why
there are so many species and subspecies. |
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The
hands of the Cotton-top tamarin are similar to those
of human beings but they do not have an opposable thumb
which is needed to use tools. |
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Food of the
cotton-top tamarin |
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| Ethology |
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Cotton-top tamarins live in small groups composed
of one adult male and one adult female, their latest offspring and a couple of
young individuals from other families.
Females reach sexual maturity at 28-30 months. After a gestation of about 160
days the cotton-top tamarin gives birth to twins who will stay in the family group
for about a year.
They eat fruit and insects and, occasionally, nestlings or small mammals.
Cotton-top tamarins use olfactory communication to mark their territory and they
defend it with great determination.
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| Conservation status |
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This species is listed in Appendix I, CITES, and
is on the red list of gravely endangered species (IUCN, 1990).
Our Zoo Park is involved in a European Endangered Species Programme (EEP), which
has been going on for four years, aimed at stabilising the number of animals in
captivity and fostering mating between non-related individuals.
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