This tiny golden monkey has a huge conservation success story

Jaymi Heimbuch – July 20, 2015

Photo: Eric Gevaert/Shutterstock

The golden lion tamarin is a diminutive monkey, with a body only around 10 inches long and weighing in at barely over 1.3 pounds. However, it is a real stand-out in Brazil’s rainforests thanks to its gorgeous mane of golden hair.

These beautiful creatures were nearly lost to extinction due primarily to deforestation. Only around 2 percent to 5 percent of its original habitat still survives, and even that is severely fragmented. Because of this, the population of golden tamarins plummeted, reaching a low of just over 200 or so individuals left in the wild around 1980. It was then that a significant conservation effort began. Read more.