All is not well for a tiny primate living in the centre of the Amazon rainforest, but its fight for survival will help the fight to save the largest rainforest in the world. Tamarin Trust’s founder, Dom Wormell, shares his impressions and hopes for the conservation of the pied tamarin.

I could have been walking through a small patch of woodland on the side of the M25, with plastic bottles, bags, old TVs, and furniture strewn everywhere, but although it was more akin to a fly tip, I was in the middle of the Amazon rain forest and in the tree canopy above me lived one of the most endangered primates on earth.

Now you would think that if I told you that I was travelling to the heart of the Amazon, it would be to pristine primary rainforest bursting with life, where surely all sorts of incredible wildlife would be safe. But nothing could be further from the truth. 

Landing in Manaus on the confluence of the Solimões and Amazon rivers in early November 2024, all I could see was a huge city with a yellow smog rising above it. Manaus started as a hub for the export of rubber by the Portuguese colonists and has continued to expand like an uncontrolled concrete wave spilling into the surrounding forest. Apart from the stifling humidity and heat it would be hard to believe you were at the centre of the greatest rainforest on earth.

The pied tamarin is a striking little primate with a bald black head and a bright white bib, that feeds mainly on fruits and invertebrates. It is one of the most difficult primates to look after under human care. It has a tenacious confrontational nature, shouting tamarin expletives at you if you dare to look them in the eye.

The tamarins have a small range that includes the area where Manaus now sits, and as the city has expanded it has engulfed the monkeys’ habitat. Some tamarins persist in degraded fragments in and around the city, but the main forests left for the tamarins is dwindling at an alarming rate. The main threats to the tamarins are being hit on the roads, electrocuted on cables that they have to cross to find resources, and attacks from domestic dogs. It is amazing that they still survive in some of the degraded areas, which have ended up as little more than rubbish tips.

Inspired by the late Jeremy Mallinson’s tremendous achievements in tamarin conservation, I recently set up the Tamarin Trust, a small charity, to continue conservation efforts that I began while working at Jersey Zoo. We want to secure the future for these wonderful but critically endangered monkeys, and set up new initiatives to safeguard their future and the forests they live in.

I have been working with local conservationists in Brazil for many years, running workshops aimed at establishing a conservation safeguard population in captive care in institutions throughout Brazil, which can help restore wild populations in the future. I also sit on an advisory board for conservation planning in Brazil, and help to raise funds for vital research.

I had not visited Manaus since before the pandemic and was worried about what I would find; the human population in the region suffered extremely high loses due to COVID.  What I saw was further expansion of the city, with ever more forest fragments being lost. It was clear that the conditions for many of the tamarins here in Manaus were not sustainable for long term survival in these patches of wild habitat.

But at the same time there is tremendous hope: great advances have been made in connecting up the remaining habitat in the city, building bridges over roads for tamarins to cross safely, planting important fruit trees to provide food for the tamarins throughout the year, and increasing the skills and knowledge of the staff caring for rescued tamarins in local centres.

It is vital to care for tamarins that come into captivity so that they thrive and can establish a source for reintroduction as forests are joined up and restored. Tamarins that come into the local rescue centre are often sick with diseases associated with humans and their pets, as they spend their lives in such close proximity to us. I know from having worked with pied tamarins for many years and building up the assurance population in zoos, that they are extremely sensitive and dislike disturbance.

So, with the Brazilian government authority ICMBio (the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation), and joined by Gale Glendewar and Warner Jens, both experts in tamarin husbandry, and colleagues from Toledo Zoo, we ran a workshop on husbandry protocols and the design of a new species hub for the tamarins in Manaus. The specialist centre will rescue, rehabilitate, and reintroduce tamarins into safe areas. It will also act as a centre for breeding and research. Bringing people together and creating this capacity has been perhaps the most important result of the work I have done with colleagues in Brazilian zoos and universities over many years. It is now starting to have real success, with a studbook managed Brazilian captive population of about 80 individuals now, up from barely a handful a few years ago.

The government rescue centre is the only one in the area and has seen the numbers of injured animals increase due to accidents on roads, electrocution and, this year, more burn victims in the worst year in living memory for fires in the Amazon. Some years ago, we helped with designs for new enclosures at the rescue centre and with the husbandry protocols for the tamarins that come in, and it was great to see these being constructed and the centre being expanded, as at present it is totally overwhelmed with the huge number of animals coming in.

I have also been raising awareness and funds for the conservation of the pied tamarin and it was great to meet up again with Marcelo Gordo of Projeto Sauim de Coleira, the local NGO working to save the species. Marcelo coordinates the rescue of tamarins in Manaus and has been the driving force behind building tamarin bridges and planting important trees for tamarins stranded in small patches. The bridges are being used daily not only by tamarins, but other wildlife.

Marcelo took us around the small tree nursery has set up in the grounds of the Manaus university where he works. This nursery is vital component in the conservation plan, providing the trees to be planted in the city providing resources for the monkeys.

Marcelo’s passion for growing these important trees is clear as he meticulously sorts seeds and prepares them for sowing. Many seeds need great care and delicacy to get them to germinate using the right substrate and microclimatic conditions.

Marcelo also took us out into areas of the city where he has planted trees with his army of volunteers. Some trees get vandalised or pulled up, but Marcelo does not let this demoralise him – he just replants even more. He works closely with the city authorities and local power companies to locate the best places for the bridges over the roads and is careful not to interfere with any of the electric cables, which are a huge hazard to the tamarins.

The tamarin conservation project will benefit not only the monkeys but the quality of life for the city’s human inhabitants. The city air is thick with car fumes and other pollutants and little if any planning has gone into the creation of a city which would provide green spaces for the those that live there. A lot of Marcelo’s time is spent meeting the local planning department to convince them to protect key areas and allow him to create corridors and green spaces within the city. It was great to see areas that had been planted several years ago and are growing well.

Tamarin Trust is supporting these efforts, and in particular, we hope to help make the specialist centre for pied tamarins a reality and provide as much assistance as is needed.

I believe that saving this wonderful monkey at the heart of the Amazon can lead to greater protection of the Amazon forest as a whole, changing policy and showing the people that live there that we all need the forest to combat the global threats we are facing, and forests in turn need monkeys, essential components of the web of animals and plants that they consist of, to thrive.