Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia)

The golden lion tamarin is a small monkey found in the Atlantic forest of Brazil. Due to deforestation, the golden lion tamarin is today a highly endangered species. There are about 1,000 individuals left in the wild.

Golden lion tamarins are active during the day and live in the canopy where they feed on insects and fruit. The are usually found in troops of up to nine individuals. The entire troop looks after the young, but less than half of infants survive their first year of life.

In Brazil, tremendous progress has been made in restoring the population of the Golden Lion Tamarin which resides in the dwindling Atlantic forest. According to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, the species has recovered "from a low of 200 wild animals recorded in the early 1970s ...[to its] 1,000th wild birth in March 2001."