Golden-headed Lion Tamarin
Encyclopedia
The golden-headed lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysomelas) is a lion tamarin
endemic to Brazil
. It is found only in the lowland and premontane tropical forest fragments in the state of Bahia
, and therefore is considered to be an endangered species
. It lives at heights of 3–10 m (9.8–32.8 ft). Its preferred habitat is within mature forest, but with habitat destruction this is not always the case. Several sources seem to have different information on the number of individuals within a group, and the type of social system that may be apparent. The golden-headed lion tamarin lives within group sizes ranging from 2 to 11 individuals, the average sizes ranges from 4 to 7. According to various sources, the group may consist of two adult males, one adult female, and any immature individuals, one male and one female and any immature individuals, or there may be one producing pair and a varying number of other group members, usually offspring from previous generations. There is not much known on its mating system
, but according to different sources, and information on the possible social groups, it can be assumed that some may practice monogamous
mating systems, and some may practice polyandrous mating systems. Both males and females invest energy in caring for the young, and all members of the group also help with juvenile care.
on diet and foraging patterns, observed that the golden-headed lion tamarin tends to defend a large home range
relative to its small body size, (ranging from 40-320 hectares). Its home range may be large in order to provide a sufficient amount of easily depletable fruit and prey foraging sites over the long term. On average it defended home ranges that are 123 hectares. Space is not necessarily used exclusively, and golden-headed lion tamarin groups may occupy areas that overlap to some extent at their borders with other conspecific
s. The study showed that in the wild the golden-headed lion tamarin spends about 50% of its time in only 11% of its home range. Its ranging patterns appear to be strongly influenced by resource acquisition and much less by territorial defense. The groups showed very few encounters with neighboring groups, but when it did occur, the encounters were always aggressive, and included intensive bouts of long-calling, chases, and fights between the different groups. The golden-headed lion tamarin spends much of its time foraging
and traveling within its home range to the next foraging site. It has a very wide diet; it eats plants, flowers, nectar, insects and small invertebrates; which include insect larvae
, spiders, snails, frogs, lizards, bird eggs and small snakes. It searches for animal prey within epiphytic
bromeliads; if its home range does not contain many bromeliads, then it will also forage in crevices, holes in trees, between palm fronds and in leaf litter. It occasionally eats gum
, but this behavior is rare in this species of tamarin. Since its habitat is fairly stable within the rainforest, its preferred food is available year round and they do not need to resort to the low nutritional value of exudate
s. Keep in mind that this study was completed at the biggest intact forest available to L. chrysomelas, so its behavior may change depending on the habitat and resources available. At a golden-headed lion tamarin site in Lemos Maia, it was shown that groups had an average home range of only 63 hectares, but they ranged in a patch of forest that was almost entirely discontinuous from the neighboring forests.
categorized the golden-headed lion tamarin as endangered in 1982. According to Costa, Leite, Mendes, and Ditchfield, Brazil accounts for about 14% of the world’s biota
and has the largest mammal diversity
in the world, with more than 530 described species. According to the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), out of the 24 endemic primates of the Atlantic Forest, 15 of them are threatened. Brazil’s Atlantic forest is one of the most endangered ecosystem
s on earth, in which the majority of the original forest has been cleared for farming, mining, ranching & expanding urban centers. The four species of lion tamarin have been studied and managed extensively, combining research on ecology
, captive breeding
, reintroduction
and translocation
, habitat restoration and protection, and environmental education.
, Brazil has been reduced to 2% due to farming, ranching, mining and urbanization. The Atlantic Forest is highly fragmented
, and the disappearance of this habitat is the main reason for the golden-headed lion tamarin’s decline. The majority of the forest was once dominated by cocoa plants through a method known as cabruca. This is a system of shade cropping in which the middle and understory trees are removed and replaced with cocoa trees. Although the tamarin's habitat is reduced, it still leaves old growth trees which give the tamarins a place to forage and to sleep. In 1989 farmers abandoned their cocoa plants due to a fungus
that attacked their harvest. The old growth which was once available abundantly to the tamarins was destroyed to harvest timber, clear land for cattle or grow other crops. The Atlantic Forest is now a mosaic of primary and secondary forest
, and agricultural lands.
in order to preserve the tamarin’s habitat. The plan also educates school children, hunters and forest guards on conservation, property rights and land use. This method of educating and involving the community has had great success for preserving the tamarin and their habitat.
Kleiman and Mallinson summarize the conservation efforts that the IBAMA have made in order to help all four of the tamarin species with their population decline. Between 1985 and 1991 IBAMA established four International Recovery and Management Committees (IRMCs). These IRMCs provide IBAMA with official guidance in the recovery efforts and management of the four species, and they are recognized by the government of Brazil as technical advisors. Public concerns of the tamarin species occurred in the 1960’s when Adelmar Coimbra-Fliho brought to the attention the rapid declines of the golden lion tamarin
due to exportation and habitat destruction. His input helped with the establishment of the biological reserves to protect lion tamarins. He founded the Rio de Janeiro Primate Center and he was the first person to breed the golden-headed lion tamarin. From 1983-1994 large numbers of golden headed lion tamarins were exported to Japan and Belgium as part of the exotic pet trade. IBAMA asked Jeremy Mallinson
to form and become chair of an IRMC for the golden-headed lion tamarin. The initial objective of the committee was to have all of the tamarins returned to Brazil, and some of them were returned. The committees promotes lion tamarins as a flagship species
with the ultimate intent being the preservation of the unique Atlantic Forest, ecosystem and its many endemic plants and animal. The IRMC is divided into several tasks which include the captive management and research program, conservation and education program in Bahia, a Landowner’s Environmental Education Program, and a field study of ecology and behavior in the Federal Una Biological Reserve. They provide IBAMA with recommendations concerning demographic and genetic management, research proposals for wild and captive populations, community conservation education programs, expansion of protected areas through land acquisition, and they also lobby appropriate agencies to support new legislation. The IRMC members are international in composition with members from diverse disciplines, consisting of conservationists, field biologists, zoo biologists, educators, administrators, and IBAMA staff.
Lion tamarin
The four species of lion tamarins make up the genus Leontopithecus. They are small New World monkeys named for the mane surrounding their face. Living in the eastern rainforests of Brazil, like all other callitrichids they are arboreal. Lion tamarins weigh up to 900 grams and are about...
endemic to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. It is found only in the lowland and premontane tropical forest fragments in the state of Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
, and therefore is considered to be an endangered species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
. It lives at heights of 3–10 m (9.8–32.8 ft). Its preferred habitat is within mature forest, but with habitat destruction this is not always the case. Several sources seem to have different information on the number of individuals within a group, and the type of social system that may be apparent. The golden-headed lion tamarin lives within group sizes ranging from 2 to 11 individuals, the average sizes ranges from 4 to 7. According to various sources, the group may consist of two adult males, one adult female, and any immature individuals, one male and one female and any immature individuals, or there may be one producing pair and a varying number of other group members, usually offspring from previous generations. There is not much known on its mating system
Mating system
A mating system is a way in which a group is structured in relation to sexual behaviour. The precise meaning depends upon the context. With respect to higher animals, it specifies which males mate with which females, under which circumstances; recognised animal mating systems include monogamy,...
, but according to different sources, and information on the possible social groups, it can be assumed that some may practice monogamous
Monogamy
Monogamy /Gr. μονός+γάμος - one+marriage/ a form of marriage in which an individual has only one spouse at any one time. In current usage monogamy often refers to having one sexual partner irrespective of marriage or reproduction...
mating systems, and some may practice polyandrous mating systems. Both males and females invest energy in caring for the young, and all members of the group also help with juvenile care.
Home range, behavior, and diet
Raboy & Dietz, who completed a study at Una Biological ReserveUna Biological Reserve
Una Biological Reserve is a biological reserve in Brazil.Found in the Atlantic Forest in Eastern Brazil; it contains a diversity of flora as well as holding a population of the "Critically Endangered" species the yellow-breasted capuchin....
on diet and foraging patterns, observed that the golden-headed lion tamarin tends to defend a large home range
Home range
Home range is the area where an animal lives and travels in. It is closely related to, but not identical with, the concept of "territory".The concept that can be traced back to a publication in 1943 by W. H. Burt, who constructed maps delineating the spatial extent or outside boundary of an...
relative to its small body size, (ranging from 40-320 hectares). Its home range may be large in order to provide a sufficient amount of easily depletable fruit and prey foraging sites over the long term. On average it defended home ranges that are 123 hectares. Space is not necessarily used exclusively, and golden-headed lion tamarin groups may occupy areas that overlap to some extent at their borders with other conspecific
Conspecificity
Conspecificity is a concept in biology. Two or more individual organisms, populations, or taxa are conspecific if they belong to the same species....
s. The study showed that in the wild the golden-headed lion tamarin spends about 50% of its time in only 11% of its home range. Its ranging patterns appear to be strongly influenced by resource acquisition and much less by territorial defense. The groups showed very few encounters with neighboring groups, but when it did occur, the encounters were always aggressive, and included intensive bouts of long-calling, chases, and fights between the different groups. The golden-headed lion tamarin spends much of its time foraging
Foraging
- Definitions and significance of foraging behavior :Foraging is the act of searching for and exploiting food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce...
and traveling within its home range to the next foraging site. It has a very wide diet; it eats plants, flowers, nectar, insects and small invertebrates; which include insect larvae
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
, spiders, snails, frogs, lizards, bird eggs and small snakes. It searches for animal prey within epiphytic
Epiphyte
An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another plant non-parasitically or sometimes upon some other object , derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and sometimes from debris accumulating around it, and is found in the temperate zone and in the...
bromeliads; if its home range does not contain many bromeliads, then it will also forage in crevices, holes in trees, between palm fronds and in leaf litter. It occasionally eats gum
Natural gum
Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large viscosity increase in solution, even at small concentrations. In the food industry they are used as thickening agents, gelling agents, emulsifying agents, and stabilizers...
, but this behavior is rare in this species of tamarin. Since its habitat is fairly stable within the rainforest, its preferred food is available year round and they do not need to resort to the low nutritional value of exudate
Exudate
An exudate is any fluid that filters from the circulatory system into lesions or areas of inflammation. It can apply to plants as well as animals. Its composition varies but generally includes water and the dissolved solutes of the main circulatory fluid such as sap or blood...
s. Keep in mind that this study was completed at the biggest intact forest available to L. chrysomelas, so its behavior may change depending on the habitat and resources available. At a golden-headed lion tamarin site in Lemos Maia, it was shown that groups had an average home range of only 63 hectares, but they ranged in a patch of forest that was almost entirely discontinuous from the neighboring forests.
Conservation
The IUCN Red ListIUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
categorized the golden-headed lion tamarin as endangered in 1982. According to Costa, Leite, Mendes, and Ditchfield, Brazil accounts for about 14% of the world’s biota
Biota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...
and has the largest mammal diversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
in the world, with more than 530 described species. According to the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), out of the 24 endemic primates of the Atlantic Forest, 15 of them are threatened. Brazil’s Atlantic forest is one of the most endangered ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s on earth, in which the majority of the original forest has been cleared for farming, mining, ranching & expanding urban centers. The four species of lion tamarin have been studied and managed extensively, combining research on ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
, captive breeding
Captive breeding
Captive breedingis the process of breeding animals in human controlled environments with restricted settings, such as wildlife reserves, zoos and other conservation facilities; sometimes the process is construed to include release of individual organisms to the wild, when there is sufficient...
, reintroduction
Reintroduction
Reintroduction is the deliberate release of a species into the wild in zones formerly inhabited by said species but where it has disappeared from for a number of reasons, from captivity or relocated from other areas where the species still survives in...
and translocation
Translocation (Wildlife conservation)
Translocation in wildlife conservation means capture, transport and release or introduction of species, habitats or other ecological material from one location to another...
, habitat restoration and protection, and environmental education.
Threats to survival
The forest of BahiaBahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
, Brazil has been reduced to 2% due to farming, ranching, mining and urbanization. The Atlantic Forest is highly fragmented
Habitat fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation as the name implies, describes the emergence of discontinuities in an organism's preferred environment , causing population fragmentation...
, and the disappearance of this habitat is the main reason for the golden-headed lion tamarin’s decline. The majority of the forest was once dominated by cocoa plants through a method known as cabruca. This is a system of shade cropping in which the middle and understory trees are removed and replaced with cocoa trees. Although the tamarin's habitat is reduced, it still leaves old growth trees which give the tamarins a place to forage and to sleep. In 1989 farmers abandoned their cocoa plants due to a fungus
Fungus
A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...
that attacked their harvest. The old growth which was once available abundantly to the tamarins was destroyed to harvest timber, clear land for cattle or grow other crops. The Atlantic Forest is now a mosaic of primary and secondary forest
Secondary forest
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...
, and agricultural lands.
Conservation efforts
In 1980 the Brazilian government created the Una Biological Reserve for the protection of the golden-headed lion tamarin and its habitat. Over the years the park has been growing slowly as the government acquires more land. The population at Una is the largest population in the most intact forest. There is also a captive breeding colony of 25 golden-headed lion tamarins at the Rio de Janeiro Primate Center. In the early 1990’s, the Landowner’s Environmental Protection Plan was created to educate the community about the importance of protecting the forest and the tamarin. The protection plan included conservation activities on over 70% of the neighboring farms, educating farmers on how to use sustainable agricultureSustainable agriculture
Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...
in order to preserve the tamarin’s habitat. The plan also educates school children, hunters and forest guards on conservation, property rights and land use. This method of educating and involving the community has had great success for preserving the tamarin and their habitat.
Kleiman and Mallinson summarize the conservation efforts that the IBAMA have made in order to help all four of the tamarin species with their population decline. Between 1985 and 1991 IBAMA established four International Recovery and Management Committees (IRMCs). These IRMCs provide IBAMA with official guidance in the recovery efforts and management of the four species, and they are recognized by the government of Brazil as technical advisors. Public concerns of the tamarin species occurred in the 1960’s when Adelmar Coimbra-Fliho brought to the attention the rapid declines of the golden lion tamarin
Golden Lion Tamarin
The golden lion tamarin also known as the golden marmoset, is a small New World monkey of the family Callitrichidae...
due to exportation and habitat destruction. His input helped with the establishment of the biological reserves to protect lion tamarins. He founded the Rio de Janeiro Primate Center and he was the first person to breed the golden-headed lion tamarin. From 1983-1994 large numbers of golden headed lion tamarins were exported to Japan and Belgium as part of the exotic pet trade. IBAMA asked Jeremy Mallinson
Jeremy Mallinson
Jeremy J. C. Mallinson OBE is a famous conservationist associated with the Jersey Zoo and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. He joined the zoo in 1960, but his great dedication saw him become Head of Mammals, and ultimately the Director of the Trust when he retired in 2002. Jeremy Mallinson was...
to form and become chair of an IRMC for the golden-headed lion tamarin. The initial objective of the committee was to have all of the tamarins returned to Brazil, and some of them were returned. The committees promotes lion tamarins as a flagship species
Flagship species
The concept of flagship species is a surrogate species concept with its genesis in the field of conservation biology. The flagship species concept holds that by raising the profile of a particular species, it can successfully leverage more support for biodiversity conservation at large in a...
with the ultimate intent being the preservation of the unique Atlantic Forest, ecosystem and its many endemic plants and animal. The IRMC is divided into several tasks which include the captive management and research program, conservation and education program in Bahia, a Landowner’s Environmental Education Program, and a field study of ecology and behavior in the Federal Una Biological Reserve. They provide IBAMA with recommendations concerning demographic and genetic management, research proposals for wild and captive populations, community conservation education programs, expansion of protected areas through land acquisition, and they also lobby appropriate agencies to support new legislation. The IRMC members are international in composition with members from diverse disciplines, consisting of conservationists, field biologists, zoo biologists, educators, administrators, and IBAMA staff.