Golden Lion Tamarin
The golden lion tamarin gets its name from its bright reddish-orange pelage and the extra-long hairs around the face and ears which give it a distinctive mane. Its face is dark and hairless. The bright orange fur of this species does not contain carotenoids, which commonly produce bright orange colours in nature. They are the largest of the Lion Tamarin. It is typically around 261 mm and weighs around 620 g. There is almost no size difference between males and females. As with all New World monkeys, the golden lion tamarin has tegulae, which are claw-like nails, instead of ungulae or flat nails found in all other primates, including humans.
Tegulae enable tamarins to cling to the sides of tree trunks. It may also move quadrupedally along the small branches, whether through walking, running, leaping or bounding.
Habitat
They have a very limited distribution range, as over time they have lost all but 2%–5% of their original habitat in Brazil. Today, this tamarin is confined to three small areas of the tropical rain forest in southeastern Brazil: Poço das Antas Biological Reserve, Fazenda União Biological Reserve, private land through the Reintroduction Program. They live along the far southeast border of the country in the municipalities of Silva Jardim, Cabo Frio, Saquarema, and Araruama. However, they have been successfully reintroduced to the municipalities of Rio das Ostras, Rio Bonito, and Casimiro de Abreu. They live in coastal lowland forests less than 300 m above sea level. They can be found in hilltop forests and swamp forests.
Diet
The golden lion tamarin has a diverse, omnivorous diet consisting of fruits, flowers, nectar, bird eggs, insects and small vertebrates. They rely on microhabitats for foraging and other daily activities and tamarins will use bromeliads, palm crowns, palm leaf sheaths, woody crevices, lianas, vine tangles, tree bark, rotten logs, and leaf litters. The golden lion tamarin uses its fingers to extract prey from crevices, under leaves, and in dense growth; a behaviour known as micromanipulation. It is made possible by elongated hands and fingers. Insects make up to 10–15% of its diet. Much of the rest is made of small, sweet, pulpy fruits. During the rainy season, the golden lion tamarin mainly eats fruit, however, during drier times, it must eat more of other foods like nectar and gums. Small vertebrates are also consumed more at these times as insects become less abundant.
Breeding
The mating system of the golden lion tamarin is largely monogamous. When there are two adult males in a group only one of them will mate with the female. There are cases of a male mating with two females, usually a mother and daughter. Reproduction is seasonal and depends on rainfall. Mating is at its highest at the end of the rainy season between late March to mid-June and births peak during the September–February rains. Females are sexually mature between 15–20 months but it isn't until they are 30 months old when they can reproduce. Only dominant females can reproduce and will suppress the reproduction of the other females in the group. Males may reach puberty by 28 months. Tamarins have a four-month gestation period. Golden lion tamarin groups exhibit cooperative rearing of the infants. This is due to the fact that tamarins commonly give birth to twins and, to a lesser extent, triplets and quadruplets. A mother is not able to provide for her litter and needs the help of the other members of the group. The younger members of the groups may lose breeding opportunities but they gain parental experience in helping to rear their younger siblings. In their first 4 weeks, the infants are completely dependent on their mother for nursing and carrying. By week five, the infants spend less time on their mother’s back and begin to explore their surroundings. Young reach their juvenile stage at 17 weeks and will socialize other group members. The sub-adult phase is reached at 14 months and a tamarin first displays adult behaviours.
Population
According to the IUCN Red List, they are classed as Endangered(E). The population trend is decreasing and the most recent population estimate for the golden lion Tamarin is 1,400 mature individuals.
Threats
They have been threatened by severe forest loss and fragmentation, as well as live capture for the pet trade. Today, the most severe threats facing this species are the urbanization of former forests and pastureland, an expanding road network that further fragments remaining forest blocks and conservation management units, the potential for stochastic events such as a recent yellow fever outbreak. An overall population estimated at 3,700 (1,400 mature individuals) is spread among nearly 20 sub-populations; 60% of these inhabit patches of 1,000 ha or less, 96% of which are less than 100 ha. Many of the sub-populations are believed to have reached carrying capacity and are potentially non-viable in the long-term due to the potential for inbreeding depression. A documented reduction of the golden lion tamarin of greater than 50% in the Poco das Antas Biological Reserve in the 1990s gives cause for concern regarding the potential for significant population fluctuations, including a decline of more than 30% recently documented due to an outbreak of yellow fever.
Conservation
Included on the Brazilian Official List of Species Threatened with Extinction, and likewise on the regional threatened species list of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is listed on Appendix I of CITES. The conservation project for the golden lion tamarins has been considered successful. The first conservation initiatives for Leontopithecus rosalia began with field surveys and initiation of a breeding programme for the species by Adelmar Coimbra-Filho and Alceo Magnanani in the late 1960s. Today the conservation efforts are centred on the São João River Watershed which includes the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve, created in 1972, the União Biological Reserve (created in 2008), and the São joão river-golden lion tamarin Federal Environmental Protection Area (created in 2002). Golden Lion Tamarins occur in the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve (5,500 ha, of which 2,760 ha is forested), União Biological Reserve (3,260 ha, of which 2,400 ha is forested), Bacia do Rio São João / Mico-leão-Dourado Environmental Protection Area (150,700 ha), Petropólis Environmental Protection Area (5900 ha) and Taquara Municipal Natural Park (19,000 ha). The Golden Lion Tamarin Association, a Brazilian NGO, founded in 1993 has a strong and active strategic management plan for the conservation of the species in its habitat. A recent strategic planning meeting (2015) identified the key strategies for long term conservation of the species and has a plan for forming 4 major viable populations connected as a meta-population. There is a managed population in captivity maintained at about 490 animals. There is some room for expansion for the population, but considering the extreme fragmentation, there will be the need for active reforestation to increase forest connectivity. Current and future conservation efforts are attacking this problem with reforestation and the establishment of corridors. There are ongoing translocation efforts to seed a new population in the area of Lavras/Pirinueus. The small threat posed by the introduced GHLTs in Niteroi is being further reduced by the removal of these animals from the region through a collaborative project carried by the Instituto Pri-Matas, INEA (Rio de Janeiro State Environmental Institute) and ICMBio. The project has removed over 500 of these animals. Total removal is planned to end by 2016. There was an International Committee for the Conservation and Management of Lion Tamarins, set up in 1990 by the Brazilian Government (Instituto do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis of the Ministry of the Environment). It stopped working in 2005, approximately. The Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (of the Ministry of the Environment) incorporated the functions of that committee within is National Action Plan for the Mammals of Central Atlantic Forest.