Riverbanks Zoo’s newest residents are endangered tamarin monkeys. Watch them play
Two cotton-top tamarin monkeys are now living at Columbia’s Riverbanks Zoo, after the younger of the monkeys was rescued from the illegal pet trade. The monkeys are the first cotton-top tamarins at the zoo.
Pepita, a 6-month-old female, was being raised as a pet before she was rescued through the zoo’s animal conservation program.
Cotton-top tamarins are among the world’s most endangered primates, according to the zoo.
“When she arrived here at two months old, she was malnourished, and we had to nurse her back to health,” said Martha Weber, Riverbanks’ animal care vice president, in a statement.
Pepita is joined by 12-year-old Caqueta, who came to the zoo from Massachusetts to keep the younger tamarin company.
“Because cotton-top tamarins are highly social animals that rely on close-knit family groups, once Pepita recovered, it was clear she would need a companion,” a statement from the zoo reads.
Zoo leadership hope Caqueta takes Pepita “under her wing.”
Riverbanks Zoo is planning a new primate forest habitat as part of it’s Bridge to the Wild expansion. That new habitat will allow the zoo to rescue more primates that have been surrendered or confiscated as part of the illegal pet trade, the zoo’s release also notes.
