THE ANIMAL FILES

Golden lion tamarin

Leontopithecus rosalia

Long fingers find meals where eyes cannot look.

Golden lion tamarins search crevices for hidden animal prey and eat fruit and other plant foods. Their narrow hands make touch-based extraction possible, while tree cavities provide favoured sleeping sites. A small patch of forest contains both feeding recesses and overnight refuges.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Golden lion tamarin
Image: Rodrigo.Argenton · Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Feeling for prey
Long fingers probe hidden recesses.[1]
Fruit and other plant foods
Fruit seeds are often swallowed.[1]
Several night addresses
Groups use multiple sleeping sites.[1]

Feeling for prey

Hands and sometimes forearms enter bark cracks, curled leaves or bromeliad spaces. Prey is found by touch and withdrawn to eat. Long narrow hands suit this extractive foraging, which can work where the food is not directly visible.[1]

Fruit and other plant foods

Fruit supplies important plant food, and swallowed seeds can later be dispersed. Nectar can also contribute, with its importance changing between groups and seasons. Occasional tree-gum use does not imply the specialised gum-harvesting teeth found in some marmosets.[1]

Several night addresses

Natural tree holes are frequent sleeping sites, although other sheltered structures are also recorded. Groups return repeatedly to favoured sites while using alternatives across time. A familiar cavity is part of a wider set of overnight options, rather than necessarily an exclusive lifelong home.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Does eating some tree gum make it a specialised bark-gouging marmoset?

No. Lion tamarins lack the specialised gum-feeding dentition found in some marmosets.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why do long fingers matter when prey is hidden inside a curled leaf?

Reveal the explanation

They can reach inside and locate prey by touch without a direct view into the recess.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Golden lion tamarin (cited revision)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Leontopithecus rosalia

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

Wedge-capped capuchinA dark wedge on the head, and a forest life shared with helpers.Cebus olivaceus ↗Yucatán black howlerA leaf eater can announce its presence without travelling to every rival.Alouatta pigra ↗Japanese macaqueA troop can inherit habits as well as share a home range.Macaca fuscata ↗