Nikki Tamarin

Nikki, 4, cotton-top tamarin

Photo: Salisbury Zoo

SALISBURY, Md.- The Salisbury Zoo is welcoming in its second cotton-top tamarin.

Zoo officials say 4-year-old Nikki came from Southwick’s Zoo in Massachusetts and is now on exhibit. Nikki can be found with the zoo’s other cotton-top tamarin, Bianca, and Timmy, the black-tufted marmoset. The zoo says the three have been getting along well. Officials say that both species of primates are social and Nikki had been alone at Southwick’s Zoo.

Before they were introduced, Nikki was quarantined, and then she could see, hear, and smell her future companions, and vice versa before they could have direct access to each other, according to the zoo.  

Cotton-top tamarins are critically endangered; in the wild, these New World primates can be found in Colombia.   

“Nikki has been a great addition to the Zoo and our small primate exhibit,” said Registrar Jessica O’Neill. “Come out to the Zoo to see her and learn more about this critically endangered species.”  

Nikki is part of a loan from Southwick’s Zoo.

Executive Producer

Jana Ruark joined WBOC as a News Producer in July 2021, shortly after graduating from the University of Delaware with a degree in Media Communication and a minor in Journalism. She produces our entirely local 6 p.m. newscast and has won three first-place awards from the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association since joining Delmarva's News Leader.

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