Golden Lion Tamarin

Lion tamarins take their name from their impressive manes — thick rings of hair reminiscent of Africa's great cats. The golden lion tamarin may be the most beautiful of the four lion tamarin species. Its abundant golden hair frames a charismatic black face and covers its small body and tail. Despite their name, these rare primates have far more in common with their monkey relatives than any feline.

Behaviour

The golden lion tamarin forms social family groups. Males help to raise their offspring, and often carry their young on their backs in between feedings. Tamarin young are usually twins.

Golden lions live primarily in the trees. They sleep in hollows at night and forage by day while travelling from branch to branch. Long Àngers help them stay aloft and snare insects, fruit, lizards and birds. Threats to Survival

These interesting animals are threatened, as are many of the forests in which they live. Brazil's Atlantic coastal rainforests are disappearing due to ever-expanding logging, agriculture and industry, and unfortunately, the golden lion tamarin is in danger of vanishing with them.

By the 1970s, biologists estimated that only about

200 golden lion tamarins were left in the Atlantic Forest.

Monkey boot camp

Conservationists gathered at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1972 to develop a plan to save the species in the wild. Some zoos already had golden lion tamarins in captivity; all they had to do was breed more tamarins, then prepare some of the families to return to the wild. How? “We sent them to boot camp,” says Kenton Kerns, assistant curator of small mammals at the National Zoo. Going green

Nearly 2,500 golden lion tamarins now live in the Atlantic Forest. About a third of them are descended from 147 captive-born tamarins from the zoo program.

But conservationists aren’t done. They continue to reforest the land and inspire young people to protect the animals.