The BEST daddy ever!

Tamarins are New World monkeys and we are classified into three categories based on the ‘look’ of our faces. The three groups are the hairy-face, the mottled-face and the bare-face. I am a bare-face Cotton-Top Tamarin and my name is George.

The trademark of our species is a tuft of long white hair on our heads – mine looks a bit like the hairstyles real cowboy Indians and punk people have. Other than the funky hairdo, I also have white bits of fur on my stomach, arms and legs.

Like marmoset monkeys, I have claw-like (tegulae) nails which help with the rapid way I move about the forest with my mates. We often flick our tongues when humans walk past us, but don’t be scared cause this can sometimes mean aggression (if you’re in our ‘space’), but most of the time we are trying to get you to be our girl- or boyfriend! Sometimes we confuse humans with our own kind – after all – just like you, we are primates too. It’s a pheromone thing.

Most humans assume that mummy monkeys do all, or at least, most of the child rearing. Well you are WRONG!

Cotton-Top’s are modern daddies and have been so for centuries – you humans are only starting to (occasionally) follow suit now. Cotton-Top daddies carry their babies, care for their babies, raise and teach their babies - other than breastfeeding we do EVERYTHING!

So next time you girls (oops! Sorry women) point a finger to say us male primates take no interest in our young – take that back – I am a primate too, and it’s insulting and rather thoughtless if you say that type of thing about all males.

Some human men are like us Cotton-Tops though – perhaps not as over-the-top – but as great at being daddies. Proudly I’d like to say, “Cheers boet – let’s salute great dad’s today – better yet everyday”.

Information supplied by:
Lara Mostert

www.monkeyland.co.za
www.birdsofeden.co.za

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