The Vanishing Tamarin
by Amanda G.

Tamarin.bmp (38598 bytes)It was a wonderful sunny day in the Brazilian Rain forest. Cotton, a cotton top Tamarin is walking with her family. Her son Harry is playing with his sister Fluffy.

The birds in the rain forest have noticed that it has been nice and quiet because there are not many Tamarins around. This is unusual because often the birds are hiding from the Tamarins because they are fast and sneaky and can leap up to 20 feet from one treetop to another

Hunters have been searching for tamarins because they are popular animals as pets. The mother named Cotton is worried. Her baby Harry hasn't eaten for 2 days because the hunters caught her baby and he is trapped in a net to be sold to a pet store. Poor Harry weighs only 1 and 1 half pound. He is only 12 inches long from head to toe. He needs food like fruit, butterflies or nuts which is the only thing he can eat. The rest of the family is very hungry. The hunters are in the forest looking for more tamarins to hunt using a slingshot. This means that tonight Cotton and her family cannot huddle up and sleep at midnight like they usually do. They have to escape.

Finally other tamarins hear Cotton's cries for help. With the help of her friends Cotton is able to swing through the trees and jump on the hunters truck. When she sees Harry trapped in a net she grabs a branch and swings onto the truck to rescue Harry.

The hunters come back to their truck but don't notice Harry's mother trying to get to him. As they drive away, Cotton jumps on the windshield causing the truck to leave the road and crash.

Mother Cotton and baby Harry race back to their favorite tree top and build a new nest of branches.

Other Tamarins herd cotton cry for help. They all pushed the net into a treetop.Cotton was able to free herself but not her children. She tried to lift 3 pounds. The hunters came back and did not notice that cotton was missing. They lifted the net onto their truck. Cotton swung through the trees and jumped into the truck