The Golden Tamarin

2 Pages 614 Words

1.A – Scientific Name

The golden-headed lion tamarin is one of the numerous South American marmosets. It belongs to the Kingdom Animalia, the phylum Chordata, the class mammalia, the order primates, the family Callitrichidae, the genus Leontopithecus, and the Species Chrysomelas. The lion tamarins are considered New World monkeys and are the smallest monkeys of the primate order. Their scientific name is Leontopithecus Chrysomelas

1.B – Habitat
The loin tamarins prefer to live in jungles that have tall, fruit-bearing trees. They are found only in the tropical forests of the Brazilian state Bahia on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. They live at heights of 3 meters to 10 meters high. They claim anywhere from 25 to 100 acres as their territory and travel up to a third of it daily, foraging for food. Their natural enemies are hawks, raptors, jaguars, snakes, and human poachers.

1.C – Diet
The lion tamarins are considered frugivorous animals. Their diet consists of fruit, insects, bird eggs and if they could catch them, lizards, small birds, and frogs. They also eat flowers, nectar, the exudates, or gums, of the Parkia pendula seedpods and they also gouge tree trunks for sap.

1.D – Reproduction and Offspring
Female tamarins frequently give birth to two offspring at a time, but more than two have been reported also. They have their litter once a year, but again, more than once a year has been reported also. The gestation period lasts around 125 to 132 days. The mating season of the lion tamarin is the warm and wet season, September to March. After birth, the offspring are dependant on their mothers for food for about two weeks. They can travel independently after two months. The males in a group play a very active role in the rearing of the offspring. Female tamarins reach maturity after only 18 months. Afterwards they start an estrous cycle of two to three weeks. Male tamarins reach maturity after 24 months.

1.E â€...