60 images Created 26 Sep 2014
Golden Lion Tamarin
Brazil is home to these rare adorable new world monkeys called golden lion tamarins or golden marmosets. The golden lion tamarin may be the most beautiful of the four lion tamarin species. Like lions, they have a thick golden reddish mane that frames a charismatic black face. They live primarily in tress and during the day they travel from branch to branch in search of fruit and insects. As with most primates, they are social and live in groups consisting of 2 - 8 members. They are highly territorial and will defend their home ranges and food resources from other invading groups. Deforestation, loss of coastal rain forests and poaching threaten the future of this tiny species. They are listed as critically endangered on the IUCN red list and so the Brazilian government established the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve as a site for reintroduction with the purpose of increasing the size as well as the genetic diversity of the wild population.
