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Range and Habitat: Golden lion tamarins live in one of the most ecologically-threatened areas of the world, the Atlantic coastal rainforest of southeastern Brazil specifically in the state of Rio de Janeiro and restricted to the Sao Joao Basin where the habitat totals about105 sq km and is continuing to decline. The Atlantic forest in Brazil is the world’s second most endangered vegetation type after the forests of Madagascar. Once it covered over 100 million hectares (about the size of Egypt) but urban and resort developments along the coast and agricultural developments inland, have destroyed and degraded the original forest. Only 6% of it now remains and is greatly fragmented. The golden lion tamarin symbolizes the crisis facing the Atlantic Coastal Rainforest and all of its species and has become the flagship species for this threatened habitat.
Usually found at a height of 10-30 feet in the canopy that is interlaced with vines and epiphytes and an abundance of insect and small vertebrate prey.
Conservation Notes/Status: Among the world’s most critically endangered mammals. Classified as endangered by USDI and on Appendix 1 of CITES. They have declined largely because of destruction and fragmentation of their habitat although until the 1960s they also were subject to considerable exploitation for use in zoos, laboratories and the pet trade. The 5300 ha. Poco das Antas Biological Reserve was established in 1973 and is now the site of a reintroduction program. The Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation Program began in the early 1970s as a collaboration between the National Zoo/Smithsonian Institution and the Rio de Janeiro Primate Center. Today the GLTCP is an international cooperative program coordinated by the National Zoo/Smithsonian Institution in close collaboration with the Brazilian government’s Institution for the Environment and Natural Resources (IBAMA), the International Golden Lion Tamarin Research and Management Committee, the Rio de Janeiro Primate Center, the Brazilian Foundation for Nature Conservation, the University of Maryland and the World Wildlife Fund.
Intensive efforts to establish a captive breeding program were begun in the 1960s. By 1983 the captive population contained about 370 animals and was increasing by 20-25% annually. Efforts to reintroduce some of these captive animals were initiated in Brazil in 1984 and eventually achieved a high degree of success, including substantial reproduction in the wild. The total wild population is now estimated at 1180 individuals in 2004, including 73 known births and newly discovered older offspring.
The captive population has now leveled off at just over 445 individuals in 150 zoos worldwide and is being intensively managed for genetic viability.
The Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation project is working to increase the amount of habitat available to GLTs to 25,000 hectares by the year 2025 and to see the wild GLT population increase to 2,000. They are establishing corridors between the fragmented forests to allow the tamarins to move between previously isolated populations. As a result of environmental education programs and other work undertaken in the community, several landowners have become involved in the project and have set aside suitable areas on their own properties as private forest reserves where tamarins can be reintroduced and protected.
Behavior: They have acute eye sight, good hearing and good sense of smell. Emotions are expressed by lip movements, movement of eye lids, ears and the hairy adornments on the head. Seventeen types of vocalizations have been identified, grouped into several classes-trills (for solo activity), clucks (for foraging), long calls (for vigilance), and whines (for contact).
They are diurnal (active during the day), sheltering at night in tree holes and cavities or occasionally in vines or epiphytes. Most of their time is spent in trees or shrubs. They are active and agile, able to leap rapidly from tree to tree.
They engage in individual and mutual grooming. They live in small family groups of 2 –11 individuals. The basic group consists of a mated pair plus their young of one or more years. The group members could be related but transfer of animals between groups has been seen and may be quite common. Natural groups frequently contain more than one adult of each sex.
Territorial and defend their area with scent markings and vocalized threats.
Diet: Omnivorous, feeding on fruits, insects and small lizards but also eat spiders, snails, bird’s eggs, small birds and plant exudates. They use their long fingers to probe under bark and in crevices for insects.
Reproduction: The dominant adult male and female of a group form a permanent pair bond, are equal in rank and share responsibility for raising the young. The dominant female may inhibit reproductive activity in other females of the group through behavioral rather than physiological mechanisms. This results in a more flexible mating system and in some groups there is mating by more than one female. Leontopithecus is a seasonal breeder giving birth from September to March, the warmest and wettest period of the year in Brazil. Females give birth to 1-2 young after a gestation period of 125-132 days. The young are fully furred with their eyes open. The father and older siblings assist in rearing the infants by caring them on their backs. They transfer them to the mother to nurse and then accept them back after feeding. Weaning is complete at 90 days. Sexual maturity is attained at18 months for females and 24 months for males. Longevity in captivity is 15 years or longer.
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