Golden Lion Tamarin

Leontopithecus rosalia

Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia): The Gold-Maned Monkey Zoos Helped Bring Back

The Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) is a small, all-gold monkey with a lion-like mane that lives only in the Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. As few as 200 were left in the wild in the early 1970s; zoo-born tamarins released from 1984 helped the wild population reach about 4,800 by 2023.

Habitat

Lowland Atlantic Forest canopy, usually 10–30 m up

Size

15–25 cm body plus 32–40 cm tail; 482–680 g

Diet

Omnivore: fruit, insects, frogs, lizards, eggs

Range

Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil (São João River basin)

Conservation

Endangered (IUCN); about 4,800 wild (2023 census)

Family life

Groups of 2–8; usually twins, carried by the whole group

Habitat & range

The golden lion tamarin lives only in the lowland Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro state in southeastern Brazil, mostly in and around the São João River basin. It keeps to humid forest thick with vines, bromeliads and other epiphytes, usually 10–30 m up in the closed canopy, and sleeps in tree holes at night. Centuries of clearing for timber, charcoal, farming and cattle, followed by spreading towns, left only small, scattered forest islands. The 2023 census found the tamarins in seven forest blocks cut off from each other by roads and pasture they cannot cross. Conservationists are planting forest corridors to link them, and in 2020 Brazil's first vegetated wildlife overpass opened over the BR-101 highway to reconnect Poço das Antas Biological Reserve with forest on the other side.

Diet & foraging

The golden lion tamarin is an omnivore. It eats fruit, insects and other small invertebrates, and almost any smaller animal can be food, including spiders, snails, frogs, lizards, eggs and small birds. Its long, slender fingers and hands probe bark crevices, bromeliads and other hiding places for prey, a way of foraging researchers call micromanipulation. Family members share food with each other but rarely with outsiders, and young tamarins playfully steal food from their parents and siblings.

Behavior & adaptations

Golden lion tamarins are active by day and live in family groups of two to eight: usually one breeding pair, offspring from one or two litters and sometimes other relatives. Females usually give birth to twins after about four and a half months. The infants are born furred and with their eyes open, and every group member helps carry them, with the adult male usually doing the largest share. Groups defend their territory with scent marks and calls, and researchers have described about 17 distinct calls, including alarm calls. The tamarin runs and leaps on all fours through branches and vines, gripping with claw-like nails rather than the flat fingernails of most primates. Raptors, wild cats and snakes are among its predators.

Conservation

As few as 200 golden lion tamarins were left in the wild in the early 1970s. Zoos began managing their captive population together in 1973, and in 1981 it became one of the first species in the AZA's Species Survival Plan and Europe's EEP breeding programme. From 1984, 146 zoo-born tamarins were released into Brazil's forests, and in 2003 the species was downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered. A yellow fever epidemic in 2016–2018 killed about a third of the wild population, and wild tamarins have been vaccinated against the disease since 2020. By 2023 the wild population had grown to about 4,800. The IUCN still lists it as Endangered, because its forest remains broken into isolated patches.

Fun facts about Golden Lion Tamarin

• Of the first eight zoo-born tamarins released in Brazil in 1984, six disappeared within a year, but two survived and bred in the wild.
• Released tamarins struggled so much at first that the team switched to a soft release: food, water, nest boxes and vet care for at least six months after release.
• For years, golden lion tamarins ranged free in the trees of the Smithsonian's National Zoo to practise forest life before possible release in Brazil.
• About half of golden lion tamarin infants die in their first year; survivors usually live about eight years, and 20 years or more in human care.
• The golden lion tamarin was once also called the golden marmoset.

Golden Lion Tamarin vs Tilcayo Tiger Cat

Up close, a small wild cat overpowers a half-kilogram tamarin; the tamarin family's best defence is spotting it first.

These two never meet: the tilcayo tiger cat lives in Bolivian cloud forest, while the golden lion tamarin lives only in lowland Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. The matchup is still a fair test, because wild cats are among the tamarin's real predators, along with raptors and snakes. A small spotted cat climbs well and hunts by stealth, and a tamarin weighs only about half a kilogram. The tamarin's defence is its family: group members keep watch, give alarm calls and sleep hidden in tree holes at night. If the cat gets close unseen, it wins. If the family spots it first, the tamarins scatter through the vines and the hunt is over.

Read more about Tilcayo Tiger Cat.

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