‘They’re a lot like us’: saving the tiny punk monkeys facing extinction
Luis Enrique Centena spent decades silencing the forest. Now, he listens. Making a whistle, the former logger points up to a flash of white and reddish fur in the canopy. Inquisitive eyes peer back – a cotton-top tamarin, one of the world’s rarest primates.“I used to cut trees and never took the titís into account,” says Centena, calling the cotton-tops by their local name. “I ignored them. I didn’t know that they were in danger of extinction, I only knew I had to feed my family. But now we have become friends.”Weighing barely a pound (half a kilogram), the tiny monkeys are among the most threatened primates in the world, driven to the brink by medical experiments, rampant deforestation and the illegal pet trade. Today, they are critically endangered, with fewer than 7,500 remaining in the wild.Luis Enrique Centena uses radio telemetry to track the tamarinsThey are found only in the tropical dry forests of northern Colombia, an ecosystem that has been reduced to 8% of its original size, largely by cattle ranching and logging; their survival depends on the restoration of this landscape, which has been stripped bare.In the hills outside San Juan Nepomuceno, a team of former loggers, farmers, environmentalists and biologists are working to bring the forest back, and with it the monkeys that have become famed for their punk-like manes.“Nobody knew anything about the cotton-tops, they were not on anyone’s agenda,” says Rosamira Guillen, who leads Fundación Proyecto Tití, a conservation initiative that has spent decades protecting the species and rebuilding its forest home. “But they exist only here and are at great risk – we must protect them.”The cotton-tops are strikingly human-like, Guillen and Centena say. They live in tight family groups, normally of between five and seven individuals, communicate in a complex system of calls, and fiercely defend their territory. They also play a vital role in the ecosystem: dispersing seeds, pollinating flowers and keeping insect populations in check.“Titís are a lot like us,” says Centena, who is a member of the foundation’s forest restoration and research team. “They teach you things. They look after their young. The only thing missing is that they don’t speak Spanish.”The illegal pet trade continues to take its toll with the monkeys being sold as exotic petsThe monkeys’ numbers first plummeted in the 1960s and 70s, when tens of thousands were exported to the US for medical research. Later, their habitat was stripped back to only 720,000 hectares (1.8m acres) by clearance for traditional cattle ranching and agriculture. The illegal pet trade continues to take its toll, with poachers capturing and selling the tiny monkeys as exotic pets.Franklin Castro, an environmental guard, has spent the past decade trying to stop the capture of titís for the illicit market. “I started the task 10 years ago,” he says, sharing photos of the rescued animals. “More than 200 have passed through my hands. Traffickers pay people to catch them – 60,000, 70,000, sometimes 100,000 pesos [between £12 and £20]. We find the titís trembling and dehydrated. It’s a terrible sight.”Fundación Proyecto Tití began with a handful of biologists and field assistants monitoring the monkeys, but after receiving a grant nearly a decade ago, the NGO was able to buy a patch of degraded land to begin restoring the remaining fragmented forest.Biologists Aura Suárez Herrera and Marcelo Ortega check trays of seedlings being grown as part of the foundation’s forest restoration workMarcelo Ortega, who leads the foundation’s tree restoration work, says the first plot of land was barren. “There was nothing left,” he says.The cotton-tops are starting to come into the new forest to forage. It’s amazing to seeToday, Fundación Proyecto Tití manages more than 13 plots across nearly 1,000 hectares and works with more than 100 farmers, providing them with plants to restore strips of their land. About 120,000 trees and shrubs have been planted to date, with 60,000 more planned next year.The team plans its plot purchases to stitch isolated patches of forest back together, planting dense mixes of native species to form wildlife corridors. “Our goal is to restore what once existed,” says Ortega.They are already seeing the results. “The cotton-tops are starting to come into the new forest to forage,” says Guillen. “It’s amazing to see.”They monitor the monkey populations by fitting a small transmitter – “a little backpack” – to the dominant male of each family group. It sends a signal to an antenna carried by field researchers as they follow them through the forest.An aerial view of the foundation’s work in the forests of northern ColombiaCentena is one of them. “I’m not a biologist, I’m not a scholar, but I’ve learned so much,” he says. “I was cutting trees down for 25 years. I’ve been here since 2018, so I have about 10 more years to make up for the mistakes I made.”The next census is soon to be released, with the team estimating that the cotton-top population has remained stable – or grown – since the last count in 2012-13, when fewer than 7,500 were estimated.The regrowth is important for other creatures too – rare turtles, black spider monkeys, toucans and tamanduas all call this land their home, and recently a puma was caught on camera for the first time in years. “When you protect the forest for cotton-tops,” Guillen says, “you protect it for everything else that lives there.”Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield in the Guardian app for more nature coverage
In the tropical dry forests of northern Colombia, a small team is gradually restoring the degraded habitat of the rare cotton-top tamarinLuis Enrique Centena spent decades silencing the forest. Now, he listens. Making a whistle, the former logger points up to a flash of white and reddish fur in the canopy. Inquisitive eyes peer back – a cotton-top tamarin, one of the world’s rarest primates.“I used to cut trees and never took the titís into account,” says Centena, calling the cotton-tops by their local name. “I ignored them. I didn’t know that they were in danger of extinction, I only knew I had to feed my family. But now we have become friends.” Continue reading...
Luis Enrique Centena spent decades silencing the forest. Now, he listens. Making a whistle, the former logger points up to a flash of white and reddish fur in the canopy. Inquisitive eyes peer back – a cotton-top tamarin, one of the world’s rarest primates.
“I used to cut trees and never took the titís into account,” says Centena, calling the cotton-tops by their local name. “I ignored them. I didn’t know that they were in danger of extinction, I only knew I had to feed my family. But now we have become friends.”
Weighing barely a pound (half a kilogram), the tiny monkeys are among the most threatened primates in the world, driven to the brink by medical experiments, rampant deforestation and the illegal pet trade. Today, they are critically endangered, with fewer than 7,500 remaining in the wild.
They are found only in the tropical dry forests of northern Colombia, an ecosystem that has been reduced to 8% of its original size, largely by cattle ranching and logging; their survival depends on the restoration of this landscape, which has been stripped bare.
In the hills outside San Juan Nepomuceno, a team of former loggers, farmers, environmentalists and biologists are working to bring the forest back, and with it the monkeys that have become famed for their punk-like manes.
“Nobody knew anything about the cotton-tops, they were not on anyone’s agenda,” says Rosamira Guillen, who leads Fundación Proyecto Tití, a conservation initiative that has spent decades protecting the species and rebuilding its forest home. “But they exist only here and are at great risk – we must protect them.”
The cotton-tops are strikingly human-like, Guillen and Centena say. They live in tight family groups, normally of between five and seven individuals, communicate in a complex system of calls, and fiercely defend their territory. They also play a vital role in the ecosystem: dispersing seeds, pollinating flowers and keeping insect populations in check.
“Titís are a lot like us,” says Centena, who is a member of the foundation’s forest restoration and research team. “They teach you things. They look after their young. The only thing missing is that they don’t speak Spanish.”
The monkeys’ numbers first plummeted in the 1960s and 70s, when tens of thousands were exported to the US for medical research. Later, their habitat was stripped back to only 720,000 hectares (1.8m acres) by clearance for traditional cattle ranching and agriculture. The illegal pet trade continues to take its toll, with poachers capturing and selling the tiny monkeys as exotic pets.
Franklin Castro, an environmental guard, has spent the past decade trying to stop the capture of titís for the illicit market. “I started the task 10 years ago,” he says, sharing photos of the rescued animals. “More than 200 have passed through my hands. Traffickers pay people to catch them – 60,000, 70,000, sometimes 100,000 pesos [between £12 and £20]. We find the titís trembling and dehydrated. It’s a terrible sight.”
Fundación Proyecto Tití began with a handful of biologists and field assistants monitoring the monkeys, but after receiving a grant nearly a decade ago, the NGO was able to buy a patch of degraded land to begin restoring the remaining fragmented forest.
Marcelo Ortega, who leads the foundation’s tree restoration work, says the first plot of land was barren. “There was nothing left,” he says.
Today, Fundación Proyecto Tití manages more than 13 plots across nearly 1,000 hectares and works with more than 100 farmers, providing them with plants to restore strips of their land. About 120,000 trees and shrubs have been planted to date, with 60,000 more planned next year.
The team plans its plot purchases to stitch isolated patches of forest back together, planting dense mixes of native species to form wildlife corridors. “Our goal is to restore what once existed,” says Ortega.
They are already seeing the results. “The cotton-tops are starting to come into the new forest to forage,” says Guillen. “It’s amazing to see.”
They monitor the monkey populations by fitting a small transmitter – “a little backpack” – to the dominant male of each family group. It sends a signal to an antenna carried by field researchers as they follow them through the forest.
Centena is one of them. “I’m not a biologist, I’m not a scholar, but I’ve learned so much,” he says. “I was cutting trees down for 25 years. I’ve been here since 2018, so I have about 10 more years to make up for the mistakes I made.”
The next census is soon to be released, with the team estimating that the cotton-top population has remained stable – or grown – since the last count in 2012-13, when fewer than 7,500 were estimated.
The regrowth is important for other creatures too – rare turtles, black spider monkeys, toucans and tamanduas all call this land their home, and recently a puma was caught on camera for the first time in years. “When you protect the forest for cotton-tops,” Guillen says, “you protect it for everything else that lives there.”
Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield in the Guardian app for more nature coverage