Nashville Zoo welcomes two baby cotton-top tamarins as part of Species Survival Plan
Nashville Zoo welcomed two new baby cotton-top tamarins on Nov. 2, according to a Nashville Zoo news release.
The babies can be seen from the women's restroom at Expedition Peru: Trek of the Andean Bear. The exhibit now has five tamarins, according to the release.
The zoo said that the baby tamarins were born to 8-year-old mother Caqueta and 16-year-old father Pancho. The babies were Caqueta's third litter.
The babies will stay at the zoo for at least two years before being sent out to other zoos for their breeding programs.
The cotton-top tamarin is a critically-endangered species due to deforestation and the illegal pet trade. The Nashville Zoo is part of the AZA's cotton-top tamarin Species Survival Plan and contributes to Proyecto Titi, an organization that helps cotton-top tamarins in the wild.
Grown cotton-top tamarins weigh about a pound and are about nine inches long. They are native to the deciduous forests of northwestern Colombia and eat a diet primarily of fruit, but also sap, flowers, nectar and insects.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Zoo welcomes two new baby cotton-top tamarins
