Saguinus oedipus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) is a small New World monkey weighing less than 0.5 kg (1.1 lb). One of the smallest primates, the cotton-top tamarin is easily recognized by the long, white sagittal crest extending from its forehead to its shoulders. The species is found in tropical forest edges and secondary forests in northwestern Colombia, where it is arboreal and diurnal. Its diet includes insects and plant exudates, and it is an important seed disperser in the tropical ecosystem.
The cotton-top tamarin displays a wide variety of social behaviors. In particular, groups form a clear dominance hierarchy where only dominant pairs breed. The female normally gives birth to twins and uses pheromones to prevent other females in the group from breeding. These tamarins have been extensively studied for their high level of cooperative care, as well as altruistic and spiteful behaviors. Communication between cotton-top tamarins is sophisticated and shows evidence of simple grammatical structure.
Up to 40,000 cotton-top tamarins are thought to have been caught and exported for use in biomedical research before 1976, when CITES gave them the highest level of protection and all international commercial trade was prohibited. Now, the species is at risk due to large-scale habitat destruction, as the lowland forest in northwestern Colombia where the cotton-top tamarin is found has been reduced to 5% of its previous area. It is currently classified as critically endangered and is one of the rarest primates in the world, with only 6,000 individuals left in the wild. Wikipedia →
Recording0:33
Colombia · 2026
© diego200803 · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
Recording2:45
Colombia · 2019
© amcuervo · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Everland | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 3 | Pairi Daiza | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 4 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Denver Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Copenhagen Zoo | 🇩🇰 Denmark | |
| 8 | Ostrava Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 9 | Jihlava Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 10 | Zoo Hluboka | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 11 | Zoobotánico Jerez | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 12 | Zoo d'Amiens | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 13 | Altina Wildlife Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 14 | Taipei Zoo | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 15 | Wildlife Safari | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 16 | Tallinn Zoo | 🇪🇪 Estonia | |
| 17 | Brookfield Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | Ecological Center of Sonora | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 19 | Nashville Zoo at Grassmere | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Milwaukee County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | WildFlorida Safaris | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 22 | Yorkshire Wildlife Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 23 | Cotswold Wildlife Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 24 | Dallas Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 25 | Phoenix Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 26 | Cape May County Park & Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 27 | Réserve africaine de Thoiry | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 28 | Marwell Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 29 | Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 30 | Birmingham Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 31 | Bojnice Zoo | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | |
| 32 | Novosibirsk Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 33 | Dakota Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 34 | Zoológico de San Juan de Aragón | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 35 | Southwick's Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 36 | Edinburgh Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 37 | Calgary Zoo | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 38 | Darling Downs Zoo | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 39 | Diergaarde Blijdorp | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 40 | Moody Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 41 | Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 42 | Franklin Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 43 | Wildwood Wildlife Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 44 | Dickerson Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 45 | Gatorland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 46 | Indianapolis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 47 | National Zoo & Aquarium | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 48 | Lisbon Zoo | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 49 | Tierwelt Herberstein | 🇦🇹 Austria | |
| 50 | Chișinău Zoo | 🇲🇩 Moldova |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Cotton-headed Tamarin sighting in Tayrona National Natural Park on a given day, based on 163 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 3rd most-seen of the 11 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, April–May, September and November
In those months about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Cotton-headed Tamarin in Tayrona National Natural Park on a given day, against about 30% in July and August, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Cotton-headed Tamarin sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Tayrona National Natural Park, in our data
Tayrona National Natural Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Cotton-headed Tamarin sightings: about 50% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Primates
The closest relatives of the Cotton-headed Tamarin that you can see in Tayrona National Natural Park (order Primates) are Colombian Red Howler Monkey (about 70%) and Santa Marta White-fronted Capuchin (about 70%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cotton-headed Tamarin is recorded against all the mammals logged in Tayrona National Natural Park (163 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
