The golden lion tamarin is named for its bright orange hair framing its face similar to a lion’s mane. This fur coloration is the same all down the body except the face is hairless and dark.

Both sexes can grow up to 10 inches long and weigh a little over a pound; their tail, which is not prehensile, adds another 12-15 inches!

A characteristic not seen in other monkeys are the golden lion tamarin’s not-fully-opposable thumbs as well as their big toes being positioned backwards.

Their nails are claw-like (tegulae) instead of flat (ungulae) which allows them to easily cling to the sides of trees. When running, climbing, leaping, etc., the tegulae make the tamarins walk more similar to squirrels than other primates.

The golden lion tamarin is a small New World monkey native to Brazil. Due to habitat loss, they can only be found in three small tropical rain forests in southeastern Brazil; if they aren’t in rain forests, they also prefer hilltop or swamp forests. The golden lion tamarins move dens every night to minimize their scent trail so predators can’t find them.

Golden lion tamarins are omnivores that eat mainly fruit, flowers, eggs, insects, and more. At the start of their day, the group focuses more on fruit before eating insects during the afternoon. These tamarins will use their dexterous hands and fingers to comb through leaves and crevices looking for prey; however, insects only make up 10-15% of their diet.

The mating season for golden lion tamarins is at the end of the rainy season, usually between late March and mid-June. These tamarins travel in groups of 2-8 with only the dominant female breeding as golden lion tamarins usually give birth to twins and sometimes triplets or quadruplets. This leads to cooperative rearing in the group since a single mother can’t take care of all of her babies. The babies will display adult-like behavior after about 14 months.

Golden lion tamarins make a variety of noises to convey different things. Whines and peeps are used to warn other members of danger, trills are used to communicate from far away, and screeches are used in play.

These tamarins can occupy up to 100 acres of territory, marking it with scents and defending it from intruders.

Main predators of the golden lion tamarin are snakes, birds of prey, and large cats.