PROTECTED ACRES
BRAZIL | 254 ACRES PROTECTED Connect Golden Lion Tamarin Populations in Brazil’ s Atlantic Forest
With a name that matches their appearance, Endangered Golden Lion Tamarins are among South America’ s most brightly colored monkeys. These petite primates live only in Brazil’ s Atlantic Forest, where they spend their lives high among the treetops and forest canopy. Like many arboreal species, they hesitate to walk on the ground, much preferring to travel from tree to tree. This means that roads and forest clearings create a very real barrier for the species and pose a significant threat to its long-term survival.
In the São João River basin, one of the world’ s last remaining significant populations of Golden Lion Tamarins is scattered across 13 small, isolated fragments of forest. None of these forest fragments is large enough to support a genetically viable population of the species, and the gaps between them prevent the separated populations from mixing.
The solution is to reconnect these forest fragments and reunite the isolated groups. Rainforest Trust and partner Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado have begun doing exactly that with the purchase of a 254-acre ranch located between the two largest forest fragments. The land was purchased last year and our partner has already begun planting the seedlings that will become the trees that reconnect the two forest fragments.
Golden Lion Tamarin | DIEGO GRANDI
PROTECTED ACRES
With your help, we and our partners safeguarded essential acres for Golden Lion Tamarins, Dahl’ s Toad-headed Turtles, and many more.