Conservation Efforts for Pied Tamarins (Saguinus bicolor)

One of the Amazon¿s most endangered species is the small New World primate, ¿pied tamarin¿ (Saguinus bicolor). The species only occurs in the vicinity of the Brazilian Amazonas state capital city Manaus, where greatly scattered and fragmented small patches of highly degraded forest remain. The on-going growth of Manaus urban area has created habitat fragments where the pied tamarins now try to persevere. However, the city¿s incriminating matrix of busy roads and power lines, along with humans and both feral and domesticated pets, creates an impenetrable landscape for the dispersal of the species. The reduced size and poor quality of most forest fragments and the ultimate need for the dispersal of surplus individuals has highly deleterious implications for the survival of the local populations.