Lion Tamarins: Biology and conservation by Devra Kleiman and Anthony Rylands, Smithsonian Institution Press, $45, ISBN 1588340724 Reviewed by Adrian Barnett
FORTY years ago, Adelmar Coimbra-Filho received the shock of his life while walking through a fragment of Brazil’s Atlantic Coastal Forest: a small monkey fell on his head. It wasn’t the event itself that surprised him – as a highly experienced field biologist he was used to the vagaries of nature. What stunned him was the beast itself. As he gazed at the long golden fur of the squirrel-sized animal, he realised that he had rediscovered the golden lion tamarin, a beautiful primate long thought extinct. Further investigation revealed that there were less than 200 lion tamarins remaining in the wild. They survived, but only just.
Father of Brazilian primatology and of much of the country’s conservation ethos, Coimbra-Filho saw that this was a great opportunity to save both an emblematic primate and preserve its habitat. It would be the Brazilian Panda.
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Forty years on, the wild population exceeds 1000 tamarins. There is a healthy captive breeding programme, accompanied by research into just about every aspect of the biology of this beautiful little primate and its three close relatives in the genus Leontopithecus. The programme results from intense and coordinated cooperation by many international organisations such as WWF, the National Zoo in Washington DC and the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, as well as a great deal of work by the Brazilians themselves.
An incredible amount of effort has gone into trying to save these glorious monkeys. It is not enough to raise them and then leave them in the forest. The tamarins need an awareness of predators and must know what to do when food doesn’t come in a bowl. They also need to be taught to cope with branches that actually move when you jump on them, unlike the static ones in a cage.
Lion Tamarins covers all aspects of the monkeys’ biology and conservation, from the history of their discovery to their veterinary problems and the detailed plans for their management in the wild. Finely edited by Devra Kleiman and Anthony Ryland and thoughtfully composed, with a well-balanced and synergistic series of chapters, it is a milestone for all those interested in conservation. It shows both what can be done, and also the incredible complexity and intensity of the efforts required just to see the light at the end of the tunnel.