Ask the Paduas

Suzana and Claudio have helped to create a major effort to protect the highly endangered Atlantic Forest of the Interior, home to the rare black lion tamarin.

Use this page to send your questions about animals of Brazil and the rainforest to the Paduas. Type your questions in the form that appears when you click on Paduas' name above. Your questions and Paduas' responses will appear in the Brazilian Animals and Rainforest Questions section.

Hear Suzana talk about the forest. "It's fragile, what ever you do to a little bit of the forest will effect the whole forest. So it's just like an egg, if you crack it a little bit...it's gone." -Suzana Padua Brazilian Animals and Rainforest Questions Index These are the most recent questions you have asked the Paduas and their answers. Scroll through the whole page or click on the animal/topic you are interested in. captive breeding of tamarins deforestation diseases from the rainforest endangered species golden lion tamarin leaf-cutting ants maned wolf medicine from the rainforest obstacles to protecting tamarin habitats tamarins vs marmosets

Brazilian Animals and Rainforest Questions

Question

How are tamarins and marmosets related? Are Golden Marmosets and Golden Lion Tamarins different animals?

Answer

Tamarins and Marmosets are in the same primate family. Tamarins are the primates that belong to the genus Leontopithecus and Saguinus. Marmosets on the other hand belong to the genus Callithrix and Cebuela. The four genera make the family Callitrichidae of New World Primates. The Golden marmoset and Golen lion tamarin are different common names for the same animal.

Question

How abundant are leaf-cutting ants in the rainforest?

Answer

Leaf cutting ants are very abundant in the rainforest. Actually the rainforest is full of insects. Just to give you an idea, there was a study conducted by Brazilian scientists and others from the Smithsonian Institution, that identified more than 40 different species of ants in only one tree in the rainforest. That is almost the same number the country of England has in its entire territory.

I just want to explain to you that leaf cutting ants usually do not damage the trees nearby. They cut as much as is OK for the tree not to die. There is a balance in what they do, so life can continue.

Question:

How do scientists and governments decide what animals and plants are endangered?

Answer:

When the number of individuals of a species (of animal or plant) is decreasing, a group of scientists gets together and discuss the situation in what is known as Mace Lande Criteria. Usually, governments have researchers who determine whether these species are threatened and whether they deserve special attention. Then, there are lists of endangered plants and animals, sometimes published in each country and sometimes published for the world. There is a famous book called the Red Data Book that is put together by an institution called IUCN that lists all of these species and even determine the degree in which they are endangered.

Some animals and plants have researchers studying them, so it makes it easier to know what is really going on with them in the wild. This is the case of the golden lion tamarin and the other lion tamarins (there are 4, each living in a specific area of Brazil). Usually the cause of their number getting really reduced is deforestation. People cut forests for so many reasons: highways, cities, factories, hydroelectric plants, etc. When the forests are cut, there goes the animals and plants that lived there. But, fortunately, there are many people working hard to protect the remaining forests and in consequence, protect the tamarins.

Question:

After how long does the maned wolf mom and dad leave the baby wolf?

The Padua's Answer

The young adult leaves its parents, not the reverse. That happens when Mom enters her yearly reproductive cycle, in about June in Brazil. At that time the kids are probably kicked out of the family territory and must find their own mates and territories. Most pups are BORN in June in Brazil, so maned wolves are breeding around April, and pups should leave before that.

In captivity, when Mom doesn't rear her babies, the zoo keepers have to bottle feed the pups. They have to be fed about every four hours, even during the night! But at around 3 weeks of age they can start to eat some solids, beginning with mashed up puppy chow in the milk, and don't have to eat as often as before (about every 6 hours). When the puppies are around two/three months old they can play outside, and one of their favourite occupations is to hunt crickets on the grass, hopping just like them. Adult maned wolves living in the wild have a very varied diet, eating small mammals and birds, insects and a lot of fruit. Unlike the grey wolves, maned wolves are solitary and never hunt in packs, they forage (that is, look for food) alone.

Question:

Is protection of the habitat the only project, or is there captive breeding of these tamarins?

Answer:

The black lion tamarin is one of the few species in Brazil that has a group of researchers concerned with its long term survival. As a conservation plan for the species, many measures have been taken:

study on the genetics, demography (behavior, life in group, relation with habitat, food needs and habits, etc.)
captive breeding in specific centers and zoos

with the findings in the field, the captive population has a much greater chance to be successful (for example, once we know the tamarins live in family groups and that they defend a territory, we need to take very good care not to put individulas from different groups in the same cage)
involvement of landowners who still have forests in their properties (the protected areas are not enough to garantee the survival of the species
conservation education for communities who live around natural areas where the tamarins are found
Finaly, we have just conducted a very daring project. We translocated a whole group of tamarins from one habitat to another (where the forest was in very good shape but no tamarins had been found). This was very successful and we have been following the group in their new forest. They are doing very well!

Question:

What obstacles do you face and how do you overcome them, when trying to convince local populations to protect the habitat of the tamarins?

Answer:

The greatest obstacle seems to be greed. Landowners, who are usually already very rich (Sao Paulo, the State where these tamarins inhabit, is the richest State in the country) act based on profit. Landowners have cut the original forests dramatically to give way to monocultures or cattle grazing. Only around 8% of the Atlantic Forest is left, and in Sao Paulo, the percentage can get as low as 5%. These tamarins are only found in the forests of the interior of this State, where the forests have been even more shredded. The tamarins are now in "islands" of forests with no connection among them (this may be the most serious conservation problem we need to overcome). That is why we have designed this translocation plan. We translocated this group as a pilot project, so we can plan on moving them so they can find new blood to mate and make up new families. It is a very new concept but many species might have to depend on these kinds of conservation solutions in order to survive.

In the case of the black lion tamarins, local people are not the ones who destroy the natural environment. Their impact is a small one and with conservation education many communities have really become involved in helping protect natural habitats.

Question:

My name is Hart. I am in fourth grade at The Blake School in Wayzata, Minnesota. I have a question on the Golden Lion Tamarin. I just wanted to know why it is endangered?

Answer:

The golden lion tamarins, as all other three species (because there are four of them), are endangered mainly because their habitat has been destroyed. You see, when we build a city, a highway, a factory, or clear land for a farm, and so on, we forget that there were many animals and plants living there. Many of us do not want this to happen but it is difficult to keep "progress" from invading wild territories.
Because we all lost so much habitat, we now have reserves and other protected areas to save the forests and all animals and plants that live there. We believe that their chances of survival is now greater than some years ago when people had no perception of what was going on. There are many researchers now who study the 4 species of lion tamarins (the golden, the black, the golden headed and the black faced), each in a different region of Brazil. As a matter of fact, Brazil is a very big country. If you want to compare it with the US in a world map you will find it is as big. So these animals really live far away from each other.

Thank you for your interest. We hope we have answered your question.

Question: Deforestation

1. How long will it take before the trees are gone?

Answer:

We hope there will never be a day when all trees are gone. Although forests are being cut very fast in many parts of the world, many people concerned with conservation have put pressure on governments and have succeeded to create protected areas. By protected areas we mean big and small areas that have been chosen because there are many different species of plants and animals (biodiversity) and where people cannot harm nature. These parks and reserves will guarantee that trees will be protected.

Also, many people are learning how important it is to protect nature. So, many private landowners have not cut their forests and are proud of protecting them. Conservationists, scientists and lovers of nature have been working together to awaken people to the importance of conservation. So, we are confident that trees will be on this planet for as long as we can think.

Question: Deforestation

2. How can plants be saved that will be helpful in medicines?

Answer:

When we succeed in protecting pieces of forest in different areas of the rainforest, we are trying to save all species that inhabit that area. This means that medicinal plants will also be there. However, the interesting aspect of medicinal plants that many people do not realize is that we still know very little of what plants and animals can represent to save human beings. Indians know a great deal about the forest and which plants can cure which diseases. What we have been doing is destroying the forest before we even know what is there. Now, we believe there are a great number of people who are trying to protect the forests and we believe we will be able to conduct research and find out more about medicines as well as new foods that can bring more alternatives for us.

Question: Deforestation

3. Are there diseases that have started in the rainforest?

Answer:

Forests, as with all other places, have things that protect human beings and others that can bring some diseases. However, if a forest is in balance it will be difficult to get the transmitter of a disease to harm you.

I will tell you briefly how I became sick when I went to live at a nature reserve. The forest had been cut in many places, so it was out of balance. What I mean is that in a forest that is in balance there are always predators to other species. So, no species gets to be very numerous.

Well, where I was living, there was a mosquito that transmited a disease called lachmeniosis. These mosquitoes were more active in the late afternoon, so we tried to be indoors at that time. Unfortunately, one caught me and I was sick for a while. What happens is that a sore opens in a part of your body. Mine was in my right hand and it takes a long time to heal. Fortunately, I was medicated and got well fast.

As there are diseases that start in the forests, so are medicines. We still have a great deal to learn about what the forest has to offer. By saving the forests we might be saving ourselves in many ways.