BIODIVERSITY

Information

Discovered the rare Black Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) for a new conservation unit in São Paulo- Brazil.

In expedition in the last April 07th, organized by the Environmental Program: The Last Noah's Ark, it was evidenced at Angatuba Ecological Station (S 23º 25' 26''; W 48º 21'29''), in the State of São Paulo, one of the conservation units, managed by the Forest Institute of São Paulo, the presence of a rare threatened group of the Black Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus).
 Based on the information of Miguel Donizetti Morgado, official of this ecological station, that there were in the area "some black tamarins", the scientific researcher of the Forest Institute, Alcebíades Custódio Filho and the responsible for the area, Antônio Cecílio Dias, had suspected that it was the L. chrysopygus. So, it was proposed by Antônio Silveira Ribeiro dos Santos, creator of the cited environmental program, natural history studious and collaborator in the raising of avifauna in a lot of Conservation Units in São Paulo, the organization and accomplishment of an expedition to the place with the finality of certifying its occurrence.
 Around 11 o' clock in the morning, after a long time walking in the half deciduous mesofila bush in secondary stage of the ecological station, we have seen a group composed by five Black Lion Tamarins. The animals, too savage, had been observed by eyes viewing and by binoculars in a distance about 20 meters. A delaying monkey crossed the track in a distance of three meters of the observers. There were not time or conditions for taking pictures or recording, besides the team been ready for it, but the animals were seen too well, in a way that it could be noticed the lively brown-yellowish in the lumbar, intern and extern femur and beginning of the tail, contrasting with the remaining black fur, having no doubts of being the cited specie.
 As there is in the literature, the black lion tamarin is among the species that are seriously threatened of extinction, estimating their population at around 1.000 individuals in nature (Ronald M. Nowak. Walker's Mammals of the World. Sixth Ed. The J. H. University Press, 1999). Its occurrence at the conservation units is restricted only to the Reserva de Morro do Diabo, at Teodoro Sampaio, and at the Biological Reserve of Caetetus, Gália (Livro Vermelho dos Mamíferos Brasileiros Ameaçados de Extinção. Fundação Biodiversitas. 1994. P. 99; Paulo Auricchio. Primatas do Brasil. Ed. Terra Brasilis, 1995, p. 86). This way, its verifying for a new conservation unit is really important for taking attention of specialists and international investments for preserving this really beautiful specie. Therefore, this was the finality of this expedition.( beside you can see the specie's photo in captivity)
 Because of the obtained results the Environmental Program foresees the accomplishment of new expeditions in the next weeks, with the objective of documenting it with photos, images and sounds of this important discovery.
 The people whom have participated of the expedition were Antônio Silveira (by the Environmental Program: The Last Noah's Ark), Antônio Cecílio Dias (responsible for the forest of the area) and Miguel Donizetti Morgado (official of Angatuba Ecological Station).