Vaccines help Brazil's golden lion tamarins rebound from near-extinction

August 2, 2023 10:24 PM

"We are celebrating": Vaccines help Brazil's golden lion tamarins rebound from near-extinction. Once on the brink of extinction with only about 200 animals in the wild, the golden lion tamarin population has rebounded to around 4800 individuals hopping between branches in the Brazilian rainforest.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (7 comments total)

Good news! So cool that the human vaccine worked!

I remember these guys from primatology class; back then people didn't seem too optimistic about their survival. I had an extremely orange cat named Samantha at the time, and I used to joke that she was a Golden Lion Sam-arin.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:33 PM on August 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

"We are celebrating, but always keeping one eye on other threats, because life's not easy," said the nonprofit's president, Luís Paulo Ferraz.

brother you said it
posted by ZaphodB at 11:09 PM on August 2, 2023 [7 favorites]

Ironically, they share Donald Trump's hairstylist.
posted by fairmettle at 12:25 AM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]

I’ve seen some n captivity, and they look so serious! You stare at each other, and the Tamarin kind of shrugs “I’ve got work to do; do you need something?”
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:09 AM on August 3, 2023 [4 favorites]

I work in the environmental field, and have previously worked specifically in endangered species conservation. Given all that endangered and threatened species are up against, it's great to have some success stories. In some ways, people who work in the field benefit from these success stories almost as much as the species themselves. It's good to have something positive to buoy you up sometimes, you know?
posted by mollweide at 7:05 AM on August 3, 2023 [8 favorites]

Mod note: Several derailing comments removed.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 1:45 PM on August 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm pro-vax as hell but here I suspect the bigger cause of their rebound is the expanded habitat rather than vaccinating a tiny proportion of their population (unless the yellow fever was localized to a small isolated population that was specifically targeted).
posted by srboisvert at 3:35 PM on August 3, 2023