What it is
The golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) is a small monkey with long, bright reddish gold fur and a mane around its face. It lives in family groups high in the trees and uses long fingers with claw like nails to search bark and leaves for insects. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists it as Endangered.
Range
Lowland Atlantic coastal forest in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
What happened
By the early 1970s only about two hundred golden lion tamarins were left in the wild. In 1972 the Smithsonian's National Zoo brought biologists from Europe, America and Brazil together to save them, and zoo bred tamarins were later returned to Brazil. A census finished in 2023 counted about 4,800 in the wild, the most ever recorded.
When / status
Endangered now, after being moved up from Critically Endangered in 2003.
Human role
Forest clearing for sugar cane, coffee, cattle, logging and towns, and capture for the pet trade, pushed it to the brink.