If you are walking through the National Zoo on a summer day, you may notice signs that indicate that you are entering the GLT area. What is a GLT, you would probably be wondering? These signs are indicating that you are entering the summer home of the National Zoo's golden lion tamarins. The zoo releases the tamarins every summer in an effort to teach these endangered creatures how to defend themselves against predators and to look for food hidden in the trees.

Golden lion tamarins are one of the rarest animals in the world, according to some environmentalists. According to the last count taken, there were about 1,000 tamarins left in the wild with about 500 in zoos worldwide. The National Zoo in Washington D.C. is one of the premiere centers for breeding this creature and has been responsible for releasing tamarins back into the wild in Brazil. They hope to have at least 2,000 tamarins released back into the forests of Brazil by 2025.

Efforts to save this species from extinction started in 1974 when the Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation Program (GLTCP) was created. This program is a collaboration between the Smithsonian's National Zoo and the Centro de Primatologia de Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. This program started out with the goal being just to protect and save this species from extinction; however, today it has grown into a multi-disciplinary international effort to preserve, protect, and study the tamarins in their natural habitat. Accomplishments of this program include: training young Brazilian scientists in scientific study and conservation, educating local Brazilians about the natural history of the tamarins and the need to conserve them, reintroducing captive born tamarins back into the wild, studying the ecology of Pocos das Antas (where the released tamarins live) and promoting its reforestation, and creating a stud book for the more than 500 tamarins living in zoos worldwide.

In addition to these accomplishments, there are several goals that have been set and the program hopes to reach by 2025. Some of these include: expanding the protected forest habitat to 60,000 acres, helping the population of tamarins grow to up to 2,000 individuals, accelerating forest regeneration in the Pocos das Antas reserve, reducing the illegal purchase and hunting of tamarins, and improving the management of captive and wild tamarin populations to ensure genetic diversity.

To achieve these goals, much work must be done if the GLTCP has any hope of saving this species. Even though they have reintroduced tamarins in the wild and have a reserve set up for the tamarins in Brazil, little is known about this animal and it's habits. Scientists do know that the tamarins live in family groups of about five to six individuals, usually with one or two reproducing males and the rest of the group being females. The family group will create their own territory which is about 100 acres. The family stays together until the young females of the group reach sexual maturity when they are 18 months old. At this time, the females will break off and form their own family group.

Scientists also have learned that the tamarins prefer to eat fruits, insects, and small vertebrates as they are omnivorous. In zoos however, the tamarins are fed bananas, apples, oranges, mealworms, and crickets. Unfortunately, due to the habitat loss in the tamarin's native land, the tamarins that remained in the wild were having trouble finding available food. Research has shown that by 1981, almost 90% of the tamarin's habitat had been destroyed. This is precisely why part of the GLTCP's initiative is to conserve what habitat is left and to study the ecosystem that surrounds them.

Though we've made gains in the effort to save this species from extinction, the biggest threats to the tamarins still exist. There is very little habitat left for them in Brazil and more and more humans are being born everyday to compete with the tamarins for space. The GLTCP hopes to be able to continue to educate the people of Brazil in the importance of the tamarins and their habitat to their country and to the world, but it is a slow process. Hopefully someday both species will be able to live in harmony with each other.