Dr. Anne Savage is a wildlife conservationist, primatologist, and the visionary founder of Proyecto Tití. With a career spanning more than three decades, Anne has dedicated her life to protecting Colombia’s critically endangered cotton-top tamarin through a unique blend of field research, community engagement, environmental education, and habitat conservation.
Anne began studying cotton-top tamarins as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she conducted the first long-term field study of the species in the wild. It was during this time, in the rural town of Colosó, that Proyecto Tití was born—not just as a research project, but as a collaborative conservation model rooted in science and driven by people.
Under Anne’s leadership, one of the most transformative milestones was the recruitment of Rosamira Guillén—a passionate and visionary Colombian conservationist—to lead the Fundación Proyecto Tití team in Colombia. This wasn’t by chance. Anne’s vision has always been rooted in local leadership:“If we want to truly save cotton-top tamarins, it must be Colombians leading the way. Conservation isn’t about outsiders caring—it’s about empowering the people who share their forests to shape the future.”
With Rosamira at the helm in Colombia, Proyecto Tití has grown into an internationally acclaimed program—fusing science, community action, and national pride into a powerful force for conservation.
Anne’s work has been featured in major media outlets and honored by leading conservation organizations. In addition to her role at Proyecto Tití, she has served in leadership positions at Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment and continues to mentor the next generation of conservationists around the world.
Her favorite part of the job? “It’s standing under the shade of the trees in the forest and seeing tiny cotton-top tamarin infants clinging to their parents—new life, born wild and free. In that moment, I’m reminded why we fight for this species. Each infant is a symbol of hope, a promise that conservation works.”