Tamarin Portrait
by Chris Kusik
Title
Tamarin Portrait
Artist
Chris Kusik
Medium
Photograph - Digital
Description
These little guys have a lot of character. I had the distinct impression that I was
being studied by a sentient being that weighed less than a pound! Sadly, there's only about 6,000 of them left in the wild in northwestern Colombia, being one of the rarest primates on the planet. It is thought that up to 40,000 cotton-top tamarins were caught and exported for use in biomedical research before 1976. Communication between cotton-top tamarins is sophisticated and shows evidence of grammatical structure, a language feature that must be acquired.The cotton-top tamarin vocalizes with birdlike whistles, soft chirping sounds, high-pitched trilling, and staccato calls. Researchers describe its repertoire of 38 distinct sounds as unusually sophisticated, conforming to grammatical rules. Using this range of vocalizations, the adults may be able to communicate with one another about intention, thought processes, and emotion including curiosity, fear, dismay, playfulness, warnings, joy, and calls to young. I find it ironic that we are searching the universe for intelligent life, while destroying that which is in our own back yard.
Photograph taken at Wild Florida wildlife park in Kenansville, Florida.
Uploaded
April 15th, 2014
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Viewed 1,731 Times - Last Visitor from White Plains, NY on 03/27/2024 at 10:43 PM
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