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Physical Characteristics

• Pale to rich reddish gold coat, long, backswept mane covering ears framing an almost bare face, fingers and hands long, slender and partially webbed
• Size of average adult
  • length: 8 - 13 inches (head and body)
  • weight: 1 - 2 pounds
• Approximate life span is 10-15 years in captivity.

Diet

• Wild: fruits, flowers, frogs, lizards, snails, insects, plant juices

Behavior

• Monogamous pairs, live in family groups 3-6 individuals
• Often seen feeding and drinking out of bromeliads
• Dependent on old hollow trees for shelter
• Reproduction
  • sexual maturity: 15 months
  • monogamous pairs mate for life
  • litter size: twins
  • gestation: 125-132 days
  • estrus cycle: 2-3 weeks
  • young born fully furred, eyes open
  • father and siblings help care for infants, they carry infants returning them to mom for nursing
  • offspring start on soft solids at 4 weeks
  • offspring can be on their own at 3-5 months

Environmental/Global

• Habitat: remnant forest patches 1500-3000 feet
• Distribution: Atlantic coastal region of Brazil northeast of Rio de Janeiro
• Numbers: 450 in the wild (1990) 524 in SSP (1993)
• Status: Endangered, CITES Appendix I
  • habitat destruction: habitat of the tamarin is also the area of Brazil most densely inhabited by humans, areas used for plantations, cattle grazing, condos
  • animals are susceptible to human illnesses
  • populations are small and scattered: inbreeding is a problem
  • pet trade

Conservation Efforts

• Reintroduction program: biological preserve created in Brazil in 1979
  • release of animals into the area starting in 1984
  • SCZ is part of the program, sent a pair and offspring for release
• Public education of the inhabitants of Brazil about the the tamarin
• Reforestation
• Translocation

Research and Investigation Programs

• Radio telemetry
• Behavioral Ecology
• Evolutionary Biology
• Reintroduction Strategies

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