World Report: April 20, 2001
- This Issue:
- Table of Contents
- Cover Story
- Cover Story - Spanish Version
- Mini-Lesson
- Comprehension Quiz
- Teacher's Guide and Worksheets
A Monkey Hangs On
 |  Happy Birthday! This baby is believed to be the 1,000th wild tamarin. |
Just in time to help celebrate Earth Day on April 22, the 1,000th golden lion tamarin was born last month in the wild. The tiny monkey is one of the world's most endangered primates. The species was nearly extinct 30 years ago. Fewer than 200 were left in Brazil's rain forest.
The squirrel-size tamarins with lion-like manes are such beauties that people once kept them as pets. But as rain forest was cleared for farms and towns, the species began to die out. Brazil's Atlantic Forest once covered 2.5 million acres. It now covers 175,000 acres.
Environmentalists are working to restore the monkeys and their habitat. Some 140 zoos have bred them for release into the wild. "Reaching 1,000 tamarins is remarkable," says Garo Batmanian of the World Wildlife Fund. "It is the result of 30 years of international cooperation and hard fieldwork."
