In the state of Rio, the Mata atlântica, although small, hosts the largest proportion of endemic species in the country. This is the case, for example, of two small primates, the golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) and the marmoset (Callithrix aurita), which caught our attention from a conservational point of view.
The golden lion tamarin victim of deforestation and its own success
In the Poço das Antas Reserve, we visited the association Mico Leao dourado (golden lion tamarins in Portuguese), the first conservation unit of the small ginger primates. Drastically exported to Europe as a pet, then victims of the intense deforestation in the region which reduces their habitat, the species reached the critical threshold of 200 individuals... The alert was launched and a reintroduction program was set up under the impulse of the primatologist A. F. Coimbra. The association was created in order to restore the population of this endemic and symbolic species of Brazil.
It is estimated that 2,000 individuals and 25,000 hectares of connected and protected forests are necessary for the survival of the species. Thus, by 2025, this is the challenge that the team of the association has set itself by implementing a population management and reforestation program (biological corridors, first vegetated viaduct ...).
We were able to observe two families and learn more about their social and reproductive behavior, often similar to ours! For the small anecdote, in the lion tamarins communities, we can attend funny scenes within a couple. It happens that the female fells for a male from another family in secret which triggers an argument within the couple if her partner discovers it. Listing and identifying the different social behaviors needs a long term work. The scientific teams of the association have been studying a specific family for about twenty years.
The buffy tufted-ear marmoset threatened by his cousin the black tufted marmoset (Callithrix penicillata)
South of Rio this time, in the Serra da Bocaina, we go in search of the Marmoset (Callithrix aurita). Also endemic to southeastern Brazil, it has suffered damage from deforestation but the major threat to the species is competition for resources and hybridization with a relative of the marmoset: the black tufted marmoset. The latter is not endemic to the region but was introduced then reproduced and became an invasive species... More competitive in the reproduction and access to resources, the population of the exotic monkey is growing faster than that of the endemic one which, in addition to its territory reduction by deforestation, it has more difficulty in accessing food. Another problem is added to the competition: hybridization... The great similarity of the genomes of the two species makes allows hybridization, giving rise to a fertile hybrid ! The lack of methods to control this phenomenon and the difficulty to regulate the population of the marmoset are very worrying for the endemic primate.
The only existing alternative is a conservation program in captivity, the Mountain Marmoset Conservation Program, which ensures the safeguard of the species by developing a breeding program. These programs are implemented in zoos, and therefore do not develop a solution to fight against the disappearance of the species in the wild... Nevertheless, they allow to safeguard the genetic pool of this primate.
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