GOLDEN LION TAMARIN
Leontopithecus rosalia
Geographic Distribution and Habitat
The Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil is home to the golden lion tamarin. Once found throughout the lowland coastal regions of the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo, centuries of deforestation and encroaching urban development have wiped out 98 percent of their original habitat—nearly causing the golden lion tamarin’s extinction. Today, this diminutive New World monkey is relegated to four small fragments of hilltop and swamp forests in this coastal rainforest, less than 984 feet (300 meters) above sea level, in the Sao Joao River Basin of Rio de Janeiro state, not far north of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
The Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil is home to the golden lion tamarin. Once found throughout the lowland coastal regions of the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo, centuries of deforestation and encroaching urban development have wiped out 98 percent of their original habitat—nearly causing the golden lion tamarin’s extinction. Today, this diminutive New World monkey is relegated to four small fragments of hilltop and swamp forests in this coastal rainforest, less than 984 feet (300 meters) above sea level, in the Sao Joao River Basin of Rio de Janeiro state, not far north of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Golden lion tamarin geographic range. Map credit: Oona Räisänen & IUCN.
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What Does It Mean?Microhabitat:
A small, localized habitat within a larger ecosystem, such as a tree stump, having conditions that sustain a limited range of animals and plants. Subadult: A phase reached at age 14 months, when a golden lion tamarin begins to display adult behaviors. |
Size, Weight, and Lifespan:
Golden lion tamarins weigh about 1.5 pounds and are just 25 inches from head to tip of tail—with little size difference between males and females. In the wild, golden lion tamarins can live from 10 to 15 years.
Golden lion tamarins weigh about 1.5 pounds and are just 25 inches from head to tip of tail—with little size difference between males and females. In the wild, golden lion tamarins can live from 10 to 15 years.
Appearance
A lustrous, golden mane, evocative of Africa’s lion king, frames the golden lion tamarin’s expressive dark and hairless face. The tiny primate’s body is covered in a silky, long-haired golden coat; its long tail and forepaws, however, can be either brown or black. Unlike other primates, including humans, golden lion tamarins have claw-like nails, rather than fingernails. They make practical use of these nails to dig inside crevices, probe beneath palm leaf sheaths, and investigate rotted logs to capture insects and other small prey (an activity described as micromanipulation). When jumping through forest canopies, their nails allow them to cling to tree trunks, while their long tails help them to balance.
A lustrous, golden mane, evocative of Africa’s lion king, frames the golden lion tamarin’s expressive dark and hairless face. The tiny primate’s body is covered in a silky, long-haired golden coat; its long tail and forepaws, however, can be either brown or black. Unlike other primates, including humans, golden lion tamarins have claw-like nails, rather than fingernails. They make practical use of these nails to dig inside crevices, probe beneath palm leaf sheaths, and investigate rotted logs to capture insects and other small prey (an activity described as micromanipulation). When jumping through forest canopies, their nails allow them to cling to tree trunks, while their long tails help them to balance.
Diet
The golden lion tamarin is an omnivore whose varied diet consists of flowers, fruits, nectar, bird eggs, and small vertebrates. Its selection of food is dependent upon its microhabitat. During the rainy season, the golden lion tamarin feasts mainly on pulpy fruits; an additional 10 to 15 percent of its meals comes from insects. During the dry season when insects are not abundant, the golden lion tamarin eats nectar, along with small frogs and lizards.
The golden lion tamarin is an omnivore whose varied diet consists of flowers, fruits, nectar, bird eggs, and small vertebrates. Its selection of food is dependent upon its microhabitat. During the rainy season, the golden lion tamarin feasts mainly on pulpy fruits; an additional 10 to 15 percent of its meals comes from insects. During the dry season when insects are not abundant, the golden lion tamarin eats nectar, along with small frogs and lizards.
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Behavior and Lifestyle
Golden lion tamarins are arboreal, meaning they spend the vast majority of their time in trees, moving through their forest habitat by leaping, bounding, running, or walking along tree branches using their feet and hands in a form of locomotion known as arboreal quadrupedalism. Their branch-hopping agility and acrobatics have drawn comparisons to that of squirrels. Active during daylight hours, they spend 9 to 12 hours foraging for food, eating, and resting; overnight, golden lion tamarins sleep together as a family inside hollow tree cavities. Periodically, they will change their sleeping sites to reduce the chance of being discovered by predators such as hawks, other raptors, and large snakes. Adults are the first to waken each morning and the last to go to bed. Daily Life and Group Dynamics
An average of eight individuals including at least one breeding adult male and female, along with subadults, juveniles, and infants comprise a social family group, known as a troop. Both males and females typically leave their familial group at the age of four, when they seek to establish their own families or establish rank in another existing troop. Larger family groups may include two or three males and one female, or two to three females and one male; however, only the dominant female will reproduce. She will suppress the reproduction of other females in the group. Adult females inherit rank from their mothers and will be dominant over new males who join the troop. |
Fun FactsIt is thought that the golden lion tamarin gets its hair color from sunlight and from carotenoids (the yellow to red pigments) in its food. Evolution and natural selection have been proffered as explanation as to why golden lion tamarins, believed to have descended from much larger primates, nearly always give birth to twins. The monogamous relationships between parents are also thought to be based upon their evolution. |
Communication
A repertoire of vocalizations also facilitates bonding. “Rasps” or “screeches” typically signify playful behavior. Social play is an important aspect of juvenile behavior, helping juvenile golden lion tamarins to develop their cognitive, motor, and survivorship skills.
“Peeps” signify alliances, whereas “whines” are associated with alarm. During foraging excursions or aggressive encounters, golden lion tamarins will “cluck.” To communicate their location over long distances, they will call out with a “trill” sound. In conducting a population census, scientists from Brazil’s Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado (AMLD; Golden Lion Tamarin Association) played prerecorded golden lion tamarin vocalizations to elicit responses from troops throughout their geographic range.
Another way that golden lion tamarins convey information to one another is through scent marking. Reproductive males and females will scent-mark their territories, including their sleeping sites. Males engage in this behavior to claim social rank and thereby discourage rival reproductive males. Breeding males and females are monogamous.
A repertoire of vocalizations also facilitates bonding. “Rasps” or “screeches” typically signify playful behavior. Social play is an important aspect of juvenile behavior, helping juvenile golden lion tamarins to develop their cognitive, motor, and survivorship skills.
“Peeps” signify alliances, whereas “whines” are associated with alarm. During foraging excursions or aggressive encounters, golden lion tamarins will “cluck.” To communicate their location over long distances, they will call out with a “trill” sound. In conducting a population census, scientists from Brazil’s Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado (AMLD; Golden Lion Tamarin Association) played prerecorded golden lion tamarin vocalizations to elicit responses from troops throughout their geographic range.
Another way that golden lion tamarins convey information to one another is through scent marking. Reproductive males and females will scent-mark their territories, including their sleeping sites. Males engage in this behavior to claim social rank and thereby discourage rival reproductive males. Breeding males and females are monogamous.
Reproduction and Family
Females most always give birth to twins after a gestation period of 4 months and will nurse their babies for 90 days. Child-rearing is a family affair, with everyone helping out. Fathers assist by carrying the babies on their backs. Family members share food with one another, an act of etiquette that helps maintain social bonds.
Females most always give birth to twins after a gestation period of 4 months and will nurse their babies for 90 days. Child-rearing is a family affair, with everyone helping out. Fathers assist by carrying the babies on their backs. Family members share food with one another, an act of etiquette that helps maintain social bonds.
Ecological Role
The golden lion tamarin, like all marmosets and tamarins, plays an important role in seed dispersal. The seeds of the fruits that they consume pass through the monkeys’ digestive tracts unharmed and are defecated far enough away from the parent plant to result in greater distribution of the plant species. This, in turn, regrows the forest's resources and ultimately feeds more animals.
The golden lion tamarin, like all marmosets and tamarins, plays an important role in seed dispersal. The seeds of the fruits that they consume pass through the monkeys’ digestive tracts unharmed and are defecated far enough away from the parent plant to result in greater distribution of the plant species. This, in turn, regrows the forest's resources and ultimately feeds more animals.
Conservation Status and Threats
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The golden lion tamarins is classified as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN, 2015), appearing on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, having been down-listed from Critically Endangered in 2003. This slight improvement is due to its increased population, from less than 200 in the 1960s—when the golden lion tamarin was on the brink of extinction— to a reported 3,200 in 2014 according to a census conducted by AMLD, although the IUCN quotes their mature population at 1,000 individuals.
Loss of habitat remains the greatest threat to the golden lion tamarin’s survival; today, the species subsists on only 2 percent of its original territory. Humans have pillaged their forests through clear-cutting for timber, charcoal production, cattle ranching, agriculture, and more recently, urban expansion. The kidnapping of these these tiny monkeys for zoos and the pet trade is also to blame for the golden lion tamarin’s near demise. Fortunately, illegal capture of golden lion tamarins has nearly ceased since conservation efforts began in earnest. |
Conservation Efforts
Since its founding in 1992, the Brazilian nonprofit organization AMLD has dedicated itself to the preservation of the golden lion tamarin. As the lead organization in this conservation effort, AMLD’s locally-based team includes conservation biologists, wildlife managers, environmental educators, and members from the local community.
Save the Golden Lion Tamarin (SGLT), a U.S.-based nonprofit, provides technical support and raises funds for AMLD. The organization is committed to cultivating worldwide awareness and concern for this tiny primate.
Golden lion tamarin conservation efforts include education, sustainable agriculture, reforestation programs, the planting of “corridors” that reconnect fragmented environments, and scientific management of the wild population to minimize inbreeding.
Partnerships with Zoos and Translocation
Innovative partnerships with zoos around the world are chiefly responsible for increasing the golden lion tamarin population. Successful captive breeding programs with subsequent reintroduction of golden lion tamarins into their natural habitat have prevented these primates from disappearing from the face of the earth. Zoos with an existing collection of the species, prior to the start of this specific conservation effort, have also been able to play a redemptive, positive role in saving the golden lion tamarin.
Translocation—transferring golden lion tamarins from isolated, unsafe pockets of forests to larger, protected forests—has also helped to ensure the survival of this species.
Reintroduction and translocation do not come without risks, however. These golden lion tamarins are susceptible to contracting diseases for which they have had no previous exposure. Scientists closely monitor these conservation efforts to help ensure the primates’ survival.
According to population biologists, to prevent this species from becoming extinct, a population of 2,000 golden lion tamarins living in the wild requires 62,000 acres (25,000 hectares) of protected and connected forest. If the forests disappear, then so will the golden lion tamarin.
Global Awareness
Sustained international awareness is paramount in ensuring the golden lion tamarin’s future. As recently as February 2016, dubious legislation was quietly filed at the behest of powerful and wealthy landowners with an interest in further developing forestland for agribusiness. This legislation could have revoked Brazil’s 2014 Ministry of the Environment Endangered Species Legislation—thereby placing the golden lion tamarin, along with other species, in grave peril.
The Brazilian Congress was set to vote on this proposed legislation just before the start of Carnaval, the country’s national four-day celebration. Fortunately, AMLD learned of this legislation, immediately mobilized its global partners, including zoos, and spread the word internationally to all its supporters. An online petition decrying this dubious legislation garnered more than 11,000 signatures in 10 days, 90 percent from Brazilian citizens. An ensuing global firestorm in social media ultimately forced the withdrawal of this legislation, which had the devastating potential of becoming a death knell for the golden lion tamarin.
Since its founding in 1992, the Brazilian nonprofit organization AMLD has dedicated itself to the preservation of the golden lion tamarin. As the lead organization in this conservation effort, AMLD’s locally-based team includes conservation biologists, wildlife managers, environmental educators, and members from the local community.
Save the Golden Lion Tamarin (SGLT), a U.S.-based nonprofit, provides technical support and raises funds for AMLD. The organization is committed to cultivating worldwide awareness and concern for this tiny primate.
Golden lion tamarin conservation efforts include education, sustainable agriculture, reforestation programs, the planting of “corridors” that reconnect fragmented environments, and scientific management of the wild population to minimize inbreeding.
Partnerships with Zoos and Translocation
Innovative partnerships with zoos around the world are chiefly responsible for increasing the golden lion tamarin population. Successful captive breeding programs with subsequent reintroduction of golden lion tamarins into their natural habitat have prevented these primates from disappearing from the face of the earth. Zoos with an existing collection of the species, prior to the start of this specific conservation effort, have also been able to play a redemptive, positive role in saving the golden lion tamarin.
Translocation—transferring golden lion tamarins from isolated, unsafe pockets of forests to larger, protected forests—has also helped to ensure the survival of this species.
Reintroduction and translocation do not come without risks, however. These golden lion tamarins are susceptible to contracting diseases for which they have had no previous exposure. Scientists closely monitor these conservation efforts to help ensure the primates’ survival.
According to population biologists, to prevent this species from becoming extinct, a population of 2,000 golden lion tamarins living in the wild requires 62,000 acres (25,000 hectares) of protected and connected forest. If the forests disappear, then so will the golden lion tamarin.
Global Awareness
Sustained international awareness is paramount in ensuring the golden lion tamarin’s future. As recently as February 2016, dubious legislation was quietly filed at the behest of powerful and wealthy landowners with an interest in further developing forestland for agribusiness. This legislation could have revoked Brazil’s 2014 Ministry of the Environment Endangered Species Legislation—thereby placing the golden lion tamarin, along with other species, in grave peril.
The Brazilian Congress was set to vote on this proposed legislation just before the start of Carnaval, the country’s national four-day celebration. Fortunately, AMLD learned of this legislation, immediately mobilized its global partners, including zoos, and spread the word internationally to all its supporters. An online petition decrying this dubious legislation garnered more than 11,000 signatures in 10 days, 90 percent from Brazilian citizens. An ensuing global firestorm in social media ultimately forced the withdrawal of this legislation, which had the devastating potential of becoming a death knell for the golden lion tamarin.
References:
- http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/golden_lion_tamarin
- http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/golden-lion-tamarin/
- http://www.arkive.org/golden-lion-tamarin/leontopithecus-rosalia/
- http://savetheliontamarin.org/
- https://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/EndangeredSpecies/GLTProgram/Learn/default.cfm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_lion_tamarin
- http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/11506/0
Written by Kathy Downey, March 2016
