Cruz Lima’s Saddleback Tamarin

• Common Name: Cruz Lima’s Saddle-back Tamarin
• Taxonomy Classification Year: 1966
• Monkey Size: 21 to 23 cm (8.1 to 9.1 in)
• Skin Color(s): Reddish orange
• Habitat: Rainforest
• Diet: Omnivorous
• Native Countries: Brazil

The Cruz Lima saddleback tamarin^[1] is a species of saddleback tamarin, a small monkey native to South America.

• Thick, dark fur covers this tiny New World Monkey‘s arms, shoulders, and torso.
• Mother Nature painted a patch of skin on its back by interweaving orange-red strands with blotches of black hair, creating a mottled pattern called “agouti“.
• Red-orange fur drapes the monkey’s hindquarters, and black fur adheres to its long tail that fans out toward the tip.
• Long, narrow hands, considered an adaptation, help the saddleback tamarin reach small crevices and insects catch.

• The Cruz Lima saddleback tamarins were formerly thought to be a subspecies of the brown-mantled tamarin (Leontocebus fuscicollis).
• The IUCN classifies it as the least concern from a conservation perspective.
• They wake up at dawn and spend most of the day foraging in groups, swinging or jumping acrobatically from one branch to another in search of food.
• Because of its small size, it is vulnerable to predators, especially birds of prey (like harpies), ocelots, and snakes.
• These tamarins have also been known to sleep in tree cavities or large tree trunks’ forks at night.