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Did You Know?
Philadelphia Zoo staff have been involved in studying and protecting the golden lion tamarin in Brazil for twenty years, as part of a conservation program spearheaded by the National Zoo. Because of these and other efforts, the tamarin population is growing.
Viewing Hints
Active all day. During the summer, usually from the beginning of June through late September, the tamarins "free-range" in a grove of trees behind PECO Primate Reserve.
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Golden lion tamarin
Leontopithecus rosalia
| Size |
Head and body length is about 11 inches (28 cm). Tail length is averages around 13 inches (33 cm). |
| Weight |
Wild golden lion tamarins typically weigh 1.2 - 1.5 pounds (550-700 grams). Zoo tamarins may be somewhat larger and heavier. |
| Conservation Status |
On the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species, the golden lion tamarin is listed as Endangered. |
| Diet |
In the wild: Fruit and insects are the major part of the diet. They also eat spiders, snails, small lizards, birds' eggs and nestlings, flowers, and frogs.
In the Zoo: Specially formulated marmoset diet, crickets, mealworms, a variety of fresh fruits. |
| Geographic Range |
Small remnants of low altitude forest in the Atlantic coastal region of SE Brazil, NE of the city of Rio de Janeiro. |
| Where to find me in the Zoo |
PECO Primate Reserve (summer only, when the tamarins "free-range" outside). |
Note: Description below should include Longevity, Behavior, and Reproduction information
The golden lion tamarin is a squirrel-sized monkey found in southeastern coastal Brazil, in dense lowland rain forest. It is named for the mane of fur around its head and its bright coloration, which ranges from pale gold to a rich reddish-gold, with variable black markings, particularly on the tail.
The lion tamarins are the largest of the marmoset and tamarin group. More than 30 species of marmosets and tamarins are found in the Neotropics, from Panama through much of South America. Marmosets and tamarins differ from other monkeys in their small size and in having claws instead of flat nails on most of their digits (only the big toe has a flat nail). These claws help the small monkeys cling to trunks and branches.
Lion tamarins differ from other marmosets and tamarins in having long, narrows hands and long fingers. Keep reading to find out how they use these long hands and fingers.
Longevity
Golden lion tamarins in the wild may occasionally live as long as 17 years, but most fall victim to predators, injury or illness long before reaching this age. In the protected environment of a zoo, some individuals survive beyond 20 years of age.
Marmosets and tamarins, including the golden lion tamarin, have unusual reproductve patterns compared to most other monkeys. A female marmoset or tamarin usually produces twins and sometime triplets - for all other monkeys, twins are the exception rather than the rule. Marmoset and tamarin twins (or triplets) are usually fraternal, not identical, but they share a single placenta.
Another way in which marmosets and tamarins are unusual is in infant care. In most monkey species, only the mother carries a new baby. But in marmosets and tamarins, the father as well as older brothers and sisters will also help carry the baby, giving mom some rest. In the golden lion tamarin, the mother usually carries the baby 24 hours a day for the first week or so after the birth, before first the father and then the older siblings start to help.
Gestation period for the golden lion tamarin is 125-131 days. In the wild, most golden lion tamarin babies are born from September through December, near the beginning of the Brazilian summer, which is also the wet season in the part of Brazil where the tamarins are found. Usually, a female produces just this one litter a year, but sometimes, apparently when weather and other conditions produce a heavy fruit crop, so there's a lot for the tamarins to eat, a female might produce a second litter in January or February. In zoos, where there is plenty of food, female golden lion tamarins may have as many as three litters in one year.
Golden lion tamarin groups may be as large as 12-14 individuals, but most groups are smaller, with 5 or 6 being a typical group size. Many golden lion tamarin groups are composed of an adult pair and their young from recent litters. However, some groups contain two adult males, both of which may breed with the reproductive female. Some groups may also contain two breeding females. Golden lion tamarin groups are very territorial - when neighboring groups meet, they face off, calling loudly and chasing each other, but actual fights or injuries are rare. The average territory for a golden lion tamarin group is about 100 acres (40 ha). Why would a small group of monkeys need so much space? Believe it or not, they may need that much space to find enough food, particularly in the Brazilian winter, when fruit and insects are scarce.
Golden lion tamarins sleep in protected spots at night - often a cavity in a tree trunk, but sometimes in the middle of a dense clump of bamboo or in a large bromeliad. What's a bromeliad? Find out under "adaptations" below. Potential tamarin predators include large hawks, small cats like the ocelot, the tayra (a large weasel-like mammal), and large snakes.
Lion tamarins have long, narrow hands and long fingers, which they use to probe for insects and other small animals in places their prey might be hiding - under tree bark or inside a curled dried leaf. One of their favorite places to find insect prey is between the leaves of epiphytic bromeliads. Bromeliads are a group of plants found mostly in the New World tropics - the most well-known bromeliad is the pineapple plant. Many bromeliads are epiphytic - meaning they grow on the trunks or branches of trees or bushes rather than on the ground. Lion tamarins probe between the leaves of these "arboreal" bromeliads to find insects and other prey. They also use large bromeliads as sleeping locations - the entire tamarin group disappears into the middle of the dense mass of vegetation as dusk approaches.
Click here to ADOPT this animal!
A family group can be found housed together in the Rare Animal Conservation Center. They include:
Zari: Male, born October 23, 2003
Morgan: Male, born January 22, 2007
Bailey: Female, born February 21, 2008
Jack: Male, born July 14, 2009
And a new baby, born April 8, 2010!
A brother and sister duo can be spotted on Tamarin Trail during the summer months. They are:
DC: Male, born June 28, 2004
Archie: Female, born August 2, 2006
Enrichment
Adoption Information
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Tamarins and marmosets cannot grip objects very well between the thumb and fingers because their thumbs are not completely opposable - one of the exceptions in the primate family. Their big toes are the only digits with nails; all other fingers and toes have sharp claws instead.
Golden lion tamarins use their long, narrow hands for catching insects and other small prey that are hiding in the crevices and hollows of trees and between the leaves of bromeliads. Bromeliads in particular host many insect and small vertebrate prey and are also an important water source.
Enrichment
Golden lion tamarins (GLTs) are one of the most critically endangered primates in the world. They have lost most of their forest habitat to nearby Rio de Janeiro, home to millions of people. Thanks to a multi-faceted conservation program that includes research, captive breeding, reintroduction, translocation, reforestation and community education, GLT populations are now growing.
Dr. Andy Baker, the Zoo’s chief operating officer, has been studying GLTs in the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve for more than 20 years. For the past 8 years, primate keepers from the Zoo have traveled with him to Brazil to assist in the research program.
In addition to Andy’s work, the Zoo has financially supported other aspects of the GLT conservation project. Two major areas supported have been the translocation of tamarin family groups from doomed forest fragments to a large, newly protected reserve, and a collaborative effort to plant 50,000 native trees to create an 18-mile-long forest “corridor” (pathway) linking tamarins in the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve to those on protected privately owned land. This corridor will help maintain the genetic diversity of wild tamarins by connecting populations that are currently isolated from each other.
The Zoo has also supported the Rio Primate Center in Brazil – the most important captive research and conservation center for tamarins and marmosets in the world.
Zoo Research
Dr. Andy Baker, the Philadelphia Zoo's Vice President for Animal Programs, has been involved in studying the wild tamarins of Poço das Antas since 1986. Along with Professor James M. Dietz of the University of Maryland's Department of Zoology, Baker monitors a subset of the population on Poço das Antas. At any one time, Baker and Dietz typically are tracking about 15 family groups of tamarins.
The team has familiarized these groups to the presence of observers, so they can watch the primates at close range and collect detailed data on behavior, including feeding, habitat use, social interactions, infant care and interactions with tamarin groups in neighboring territories. The team also tracks changes in group composition - patterns of group formation, immigration and emigration to and from groups, individual longevity, and so forth. Baker and Dietz trap all of the animals under study, usually twice a year, using squirrel-type live traps baited with bananas. The team collects a variety of biometric information, outfits at least one tamarin per group with a radio collar to track their location, draws blood samples for genetic and veterinary analyses and marks the animals with fur dye to enable observers to distinguish individuals before releasing them back into the forest.
This field work, funded in large part by the National Science Foundation, provides invaluable information on basic biology to guide conservation planning, enables ongoing monitoring of the largest population of the species, affords some protection against potential poaching and provides employment to local residents who work as field assistants and now collect almost all the daily behavioral data. Information resulting from the field tudies has been published in scientific journals like Animal Behavior and the American Journal of Primatology, as well as in a number of books and popular publications.
The Philadelphia Zoo also helps wild tamarins in other ways. The Zoo has provided financial support to Brazilian scientists who rescued tamarin family groups from tiny forest fragments, where they could not survive in the long-term, and moved them to the União Biological Reserve, a new reserve that was created to protect more tamarin habitat just a few years ago. Starting in 2004, the Zoo has also helped fund a project to grow corridors of native trees between different areas of forest, so that tamarins can move freely between one area and another. These connections link separated populations of tamarins and help avoid problems with inbreeding that can occur in small, isolated animal populations.
Sources:
1) Philadelphia Zoo staff;
2) Baker, A.J., Bales, K. and Dietz, J.M. 2002. Mating system and group dynamics in lion tamarins. In: The Lion Tamarins of Brazil: Twenty-Five Years of Research and Conservation. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press;
3) Baker, A.J. and Dietz, J.M. 1993. Polygyny and female reproductive success in golden lion tamarins, Leontopithecus rosalia. Animal Behavior 46: 1067-1078;
4) Baker, A.J., Dietz, J.M. and Kleiman, D.G. 1993. Behavioral evidence for monopolization of paternity in multi-male groups of golden lion tamarins. Animal Behavior 46: 1091-1103.
5) IUCN 2007. 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 04 January 2008.
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