Raising Cotton-Top Tamarins
LSeT trainee documents the careful, demanding practice of hand-rearing one of the world's most delicate primates - from nutrition to the behavioural development of a thriving neonate.
Hand-rearing a cotton-top tamarin is a question of grams and minutes. Every feed is logged, every thermoregulation adjustment is noted, and the difference between a thriving infant and a struggling one comes down to the patient discipline of catching small changes early.
The first fortnight
You do not rear a tamarin so much as you keep the room close enough to its mother that it does not notice she is gone.
The brooder is held at a tight temperature band, dropping by half a degree across the first ten days. Feeds run every ninety minutes around the clock, tapering only as the infant gains weight reliably.
By day fourteen, the focus shifts from survival to behaviour. The infant needs to learn to cling, to thermoregulate without help, and to associate handling with calm food delivery rather than restraint.
What we track every day
- Pre- and post-feed weight, to the nearest 0.1 g.
- Stool quality and frequency.
- Time spent clinging versus prone, scored at every feed.
- Skin condition under the chin and on the hands, which thin out fast if hydration drops.
About LSeT Trainee Team
A rotating team of LSeT trainees writes up hands-on husbandry case studies from their placements across partner collections.