Golden Lion Tamarin

36 Pages·2007·0.611 MB·English

by  Barbara A. Somervill,Devra G. Kleiman

ROAD TO RECOVERY
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21st
Century
Skills Library
ROAD TO RECOVERY
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Barbara A. Somervill
Cher r y Lake Publishing
Ann Ar bor, Michigan
Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing
Ann Arbor, MI
www.cherrylakepublishing.com
Content Adviser: Devra G. Kleiman, Zoo-Logic, LLC; Senior Scientist Emeritus,
Smithsonian National Zoological Park; Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland;
Vice-President, Save the Golden Lion Tamarin
Photo Credits: Page 9, Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress; page 26, © Frans
Lanting/Corbis; © Philip Marazzi; Papilio/Corbis
Map by XNR Productions, Inc.
Copyright ©2008 by Cherry Lake Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Somervill, Barbara A.
Golden lion tamarin / by Barbara A. Somervill.
p. cm. — (Road to recovery)
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60279-032-2 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-60279-032-9 (hardcover)
1. Golden lion tamarin. I. Title. II. Series.
QL737.P925S66 2007
599.8'4—dc22 2007004446
Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Please visitwww.21stcenturyskills.org for more information.
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C H A P T E R O N E
In Poço das Antas 4
C H A P T E R T W O
The Story of Golden Lion Tamarins 9
C H A P T E R T H R E E
Endangered! 16
C H A P T E R F O U R
The Road to Recovery 20
C H A P T E R F I V E
Golden Lion Tamarins Today 25
Map 29
Glossary 30
For More Information 31
Index 32
About the Author 32
CHAPTER ONE
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D
awn shoots the sun’s golden rays into the canopy of the Poço das
Antas swamp forest in Brazil. In a woodpecker’s empty nest, a family of
golden lion tamarins wakes after a night’s rest. The tamarins peek out of
The wild golden lion tamarin lives in the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
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the hollow, carefully checking the surrounding area before emerging. They
must be constantly aware of predators.
The tamarins spend their morning hunting for food. Most of the
tamarins’ diet is fruit, although they also eat nectar, tree sap, and insects
as well as birds, lizards, and frogs. This morning, the group is scavenging
among bromeliads growing on tree branches high in the swamp forest
canopy. The tamarins use their long, thin fingers to dig out insects from
between the leaves of the plants and to find water held in the plant.
This family group has six members. The adult male is about six years
old, and the female is five. The breeding couple has 14-month-old twins
and a second pair not quite two months old.
As the group moves through the trees, the father and the older tamarin
juveniles carry the infants. Nursing twins places a heavy demand on the
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21st mother, so the rest of the group helps carry, collect
Century
C
ontent food for, and teach the youngest babies.
There are four species
Tamarins use all four limbs to move from tree
of lion tamarins: the
golden lion tamarin,
the black lion tamarin, to tree. The vines and overhanging branches are like
the black-faced lion
tamarin, and the
sidewalks to them. They are in a tropical rain forest,
golden-headed lion
tamarin. All four species
are found only in the thick with tangling vines and trees that form a
Atlantic rain forests
of Brazil. While the
dense canopy.
golden lion tamarin and
the golden-headed lion
The tamarin group stays under leaf cover about
tamarin are considered
endangered, the
black lion tamarin and
30 feet (9 meters) up in the canopy. Leaf cover hides
the black-faced lion
tamarin are considered
them from hawks and eagles searching for a meal. The
critically endangered.
tamarins also need to watch out for boa constrictors,
jaguars, jaguarundis, ocelots, and tayras (small weasel-
like critters that attack nest holes at night).
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The golden lion
tamarins stay busy
feeding, grooming,
and looking out
for enemies. A
black hawk swoops
through the sky, and
the tamarins sound
a warning and drop
A golden lion tamarin raises the alarm to
warn others of danger in the forest.
low. Tamarins in
nearby territories pick up the whine, and soon the swamp forest is quiet.
If a snake were detected, however, tamarins would fill the forest with loud
repetitive clucks to warn each other of danger.
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Golden lion tamarins spend their days looking out for predators,
nibbling on fruit, and moving in the trees above the swamp forest floor.
Sunset approaches. The group looks for a new nest site for the night. It
is safer for them to move around than to stay in a permanent nest.
The group will sleep tucked close together in a tree hole. The infants
nurse before sleeping snuggled with their mother. Their older sisters
stretch and then cuddle next to each other. The father also curls up nearby.
Tomorrow will be another busy day.
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