Free-ranging tamarins in the Mata Atlantica (The Atlantic forest)
About sixty years ago, humans began heavily deforesting Brazil's Atlantic forest, which once rivaled the Amazon in size. The primary reason? To create grazing land for cattle. Many endemic species either went extinct, or came very close. The golden lion tamarin's population plummeted below 200, but contrary to what seemed to be inevitable, their existence was given another chance. The Golden Lion Tamarin Association was formed in the early 80's, and with the help of Zoos all over the world, it undertook a very ambitious project: to capture free-ranging individuals from the Mata Atlantica, transport them to Zoos (as far-flung as Japan, Hawaii, and Philadelphia), and provide them with a safe space to breed. The offspring of the once free-ranging monkeys were then trained at the various facilities to be reintroduced back into the wild -- and live freely as their parents and grandparents did! Major reforestation projects followed. Today, the GLT population is steady at 1,700, thanks to the Association.
Click
here to learn more about the Golden Lion Tamarin Association. You can also click
here or
here to read about the time I spent with the project.