Characteristics of a Golden Lion Tamarin

Appearence

• Golden lion tamarins have bright orange fur, sometimes having red or gold shades, extending into the distinctive mane around their hairless faces. They reach a length of about 10 to 12 inches and have long, fur-covered tails. Males and females look similar.

Physical Adaptations

• Tamarins are arboreal, or tree-dwelling, animals and well adapted to their environment. Their long tails and fingers give them a good grip on twigs and branches. Their long digits let them extract food items from crannies. Dexterity also enables them to catch fast-moving insects. They have claws, rather than nails, on their digits that help them grip vertical surfaces. Nails are a new adaptation; the ancestors of tamarins probably had the typical flat nails of most monkeys.

Behavior

• These monkeys live in small, close-knit family groups of both sexes. Each troop normally includes about four to eight individuals. They sleep in tree hollows at night and search for food during the day. Being omnivores, they eat a wide range of foods, including insects, small vertebrates such as frogs and lizards, fruit, nectar and plant gum. They are territorial and a troop defends its territory from other tamarin groups.

Reproduction

• Females normally give birth to two babies at a time. Sometimes they have triplets or even quadruplets. Usually just one female in each group breeds each year. The males help with care, taking their turn carrying the babies. This is necessary, because a single female could not care for two or more offspring.

Range

• Golden lion tamarins inhabit approximately 3,000 square miles of Brazilian tropical forest. This small area is also becoming increasingly fragmented. Unfortunately for the tamarins, this habitat is full of materials valuable to humans, including wood and minerals. Logging, agriculture and industrial development are shrinking the habitat. Golden lion tamarin numbers are low primarily due to deforestation, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature has classified the species as endangered. Conservation efforts, including captive breeding programs in the late 20th century have partially helped.