Rare golden primates help speed recovery of endangered Brazilian forest ( UPDATED)

by Luiz Castro | June 19, 2008 at 12:25 pm | 766 views | 18 comments

Golden Lion Tamarin, Smithsonian National Zoological Park

As its name would suggest, this lion tamarin is a reddish orange to golden brown in color. Its hair is longer and darker around the face, forming a mane on top of the head and on the cheeks and throat. Its limbs are slender yet capable with sharp claw-like nails (called tegulae), befitting its strictly arboreal life.

Several new pictures added ( UPDATE)

The endangered golden lion tamarin — a flagship species for conservation efforts in Brazil's highly threatened Atlantic Forest or Mata Atlantica — plays an important role in seed dispersal, thereby helping forest regeneration, according to research published in the June issue of the open access e-journal Tropical Conservation Science.

Collecting droppings of golden lion tamarin introduced to União Biological Reserve in Rio de Janeiro state, Marina Janzantti Lapenta and Paula Procópio-de-Oliveira of the Golden Lion Tamarin Association found that the small primates are efficient seed dispersers, due to the number and variety of seeds consumed and because they help faciliate germination.

"The tamarins deposit the seeds in places more favorable to germination," said Lapenta, lead author of the study and an ecologist at the University of São Paulo.

Lapenta says that tamarins deposit seeds in favorable habitats far from the trees where they feed, giving the seeds a better chance of germinating away from seed predators and with better access to sunlight.

"While other animals disperse seeds in the same forests of golden lion tamarins, these species disperse seeds of different sizes and in other quantities," Lapenta explained.

Lapenta and Procópio-de-Oliveira suggest the golden lion tamarin goes beyond simply serving as flagship species for conservation: the charismatic primate actually plays an important role in the recovery of the Mata Atlantica, an ecosystem than has been diminished by more than 90 percent due to logging and agricultural expansion.

Family life

The golden lion tamarin lives in extended family groups high up in the tree tops. During the hottest part of the day the family usually hides in dense foliage, out of the direct sunlight. The tamarins spend much of the day playing with each other in a quarrelsome fashion, jumping easily through the trees, using their very long and partly webbed fingers to grip the branches. Grooming is an important daily activity and helps to bond the family together. They even pick and clean each others teeth.

Tamarins within a family are very sociable but they are extremely aggressive to intruders. If excited or frightened a tamarin raises its mane, bares its teeth and calls out with high-pitched shrieks. Adults of the same sex sometimes fight to the death. When not playing or resting, the tamarin searches for food. It is an omnivore, eating both meat and plant material, collecting it from tree tops.

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Heiky

at 12:31 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

lfcastro, I like this story. It's good stuff.

A happy story for our souls. Lately all I've been hearing about is natural disasters. Thanks for posting this!

Luiz Castro

at 12:38 on June 19th, 2008

Thank you Heiky, that is true, sometimes is nice to know something good is happening somewhere.

novocainstain

at 15:17 on June 19th, 2008

These adorable, yet shy, creatures were a popular attraction at the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan.

novocainstain has contributed a photo to this story.

Barbara McPherson

at 15:22 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

lfcastro, I like this story. It's good stuff. Thanks for the good news story. It looks like there's hope yet.

novocainstain

at 15:29 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

lfcastro, I like this story. It's good stuff.

saulesmeit

at 16:24 on June 19th, 2008

This is taken in the Small Mammal House at Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC. The Golden Lion Tamarins are housed here during the colder months, but during the Summer they roam freely in the treetops of the NZ grounds.
I do not know this keeper's name.

saulesmeit has contributed a photo to this story.

Phil Monaco

at 17:07 on June 19th, 2008

Originial Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skunkpunk/2144251684/

A high canopy with dense tangles of vines is required by the Golden Lion Tamarin; other than providing a home, the labyrinthine forest affords some degree of protection from its many predators. Its main predators are raptors, large cats and snakes. The canopy also provides an important source of food; the omnivorous lion tamarins rely on rainwater and insects concentrated in the reservoirs of bromeliads and other small animals inhabiting the bark of trees. Fruit is also consumed; for instance at União Biological Reserve, more than 160 species of fruit were observed being eaten.[3]

Phil Monaco has contributed a photo to this story.

Claudia Castro

at 17:01 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

lfcastro, I like this story. It's good stuff.

piscesblue81

at 17:29 on June 19th, 2008

We've had two sets of babies born less than a year apart at the Milwaukee County Zoo.

piscesblue81 has contributed a photo to this story.

rabideloise

at 17:54 on June 19th, 2008

"We have the world's best monkeys," a sign at the zoo in Skansen, Stockholm, Sweden.

rabideloise has contributed a photo to this story.

Jarrett Martineau

at 18:37 on June 19th, 2008

good stuff:

Great photos!

~Sage~

at 19:09 on June 19th, 2008

They are so adorable and interesting to watch too!

~Sage~ has contributed a photo to this story.

Luiz Castro

at 19:19 on June 19th, 2008

Thank you all for the great pictures everyone added ( Flickr members) . I am also glad because a story of a monkey made the first page, is frustrating see only articles about terrorism, war, crimes and other disgraces hiting the top.

Thank you all!

jaimelynn88

at 20:46 on June 19th, 2008

These pictures were taken at the Philadelphia Zoo (http://tinyurl.com/5jqlar), which has been successful in breeding Golden Lion Tamarins. Like the photos upthread from the National Zoo in DC, the Philadelphia tamarins roam free during the summer time.

jaimelynn88 has contributed a photo to this story.

Lizzzzzzzz

at 23:05 on June 19th, 2008

There were several lion tamarins roaming about in the big cage, and their vivid colour was what caught my eye first. Then I wondered where the "chirping" came from - thinking there were birds in the same cage. But there weren't any birds - the monkeys were chirping! Just amazing animals!

Lizzzzzzzz has contributed a photo to this story.