Monkeys thrive in transformed Brazilian forest

SILVA JARDIM, Brazil -- Three tiny flaming-orange monkeys crouched on a tree branch, cocking their heads as if to better hear the high-pitched whistles and yaps that came from deep within the dense green forest foliage. Then they answered in kind, rending the morning with their sharp calls.

That the cries of Brazil's endangered golden lion tamarins should fill the air at all was cause for celebration, the result of one of the world's most inspired species restoration efforts. In fact, that campaign has transformed the lush forest where the monkeys live and has become a model widely cited for saving other animals.

Saving the squirrel-sized monkeys, which sport a lush coat and foot-long tail, became a passion for everyone from international animal aid groups to Brazilian conservationists.

It also brought in people living in the area, from well-off landowners to farm workers, who learned how to make a living from growing the trees that the monkeys depend on to survive, researchers said. Its population has grown from just hundreds four decades ago to 1,700 in Rio de Janeiro state, the only place in the world where the tamarins live in the wild.

Now the tamarin is in the running for mascot in Brazil's 2016 Olympics, and the next step to ensuring its survival might be helped along by another Olympic project: the state's promise to plant 24 million trees, enough to absorb the greenhouse gases generated by the vehicle traffic, construction and other activities of the games.

That would help further restore the swath of species-rich Atlantic forest that once covered much of Brazil's coast, and ensure the tamarins enough room to thrive.

"It's a challenge," said Marcia Hirota of the environmental group the SOS Mata Atlantica Foundation, aimed at restoring the forest. "But Rio has already cut down on deforestation. With this kind of public policy, Rio can become an example for other states that are in a more critical situation."