Adorable Baby Golden Lion Tamarin Born at Beardsley Zoo

There is a new addition to the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport. An adorable baby golden lion tamarin was born earlier this month and it’s the first one to be born there in well over a decade.

Mom, Cricket, and dad, Leão, welcomed their new family member earlier this month and the zoo said the baby will spend its first weeks clinging to its the back of its mother or father.

When the baby tamarin gets about 5 weeks old, it will start to explore on its own.

You can see the tamarins in the Rainforest Building, but the family has free access to its main habitat in the Rainforest Building and the inside habitat, so you might not be able to see them all the time.

This is an exciting addition for the zoo amid conservation efforts for a species that they said was once down to 200.

“There are only about 2,500 golden lion tamarins remaining in the wild, and a third of those are descended from GLTs raised in human care,” Beardsley Zoo director Gregg Dancho said in a statement.  “We’re proud of our contribution to the restoration of this species, with babies born here released in Brazil to help stabilize the population.”

He said the baby is an important part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Species Survival Plan.

What to Know About the Golden Lion Tamarin

• It is a small endangered species of monkey from the rainforests in southeast Brazil.
• Golden lion tamarins live primarily in the trees. They sleep in hollows at night and forage by day while traveling from branch to branch.
• The golden lion tamarin is threatened by collection for the pet trade,  habitat loss and habitat fragmentation.