The video to the left is a short video about a species of monkey called golden lion tamarins native to the Atlantic Coast forests of Brazil. Golden lion tamarins live in thick forests and require a high canopy with a copious amount of tangled vines. Other then providing a home for the tamarin the canopy and vines also serves as protection from predators. The main predators of the tamarin are birds of prey, snakes, and big cats like jaguars and tigers. The vines also serve as a source of food, including rainwater and insects that gather in the vines. Tamarins also eat a variety of fruit.
In 1982 the species was listed as endangered and in 1996 listed as critically endangered. Logging and agriculture forced the tamarins to isolated habitats and inbreeding, two things that can cause extinction. By 2003 a new population reserve helped move the golden lion tamarin from critically endangered to endangered. Several reserve programs have been put into place in order to help rise the wild population and maintain a large population in zoos.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Leontopithecus.rosalia-01-ZOO.Dvur.Kralove.jpg
These monkeys are quite a unique and well-developed species. How large would the Golden Lion Tamarin population need to be to take the species of the endangered list?
ReplyDeleteIf deforestation happens, what will happen to the monkey? Will they die off?
ReplyDelete