Tribute to Jeremy Mallinson, A True Ambassador and Friend of Lion Tamarins

Jeremy Mallinson OBE, DSc (Hon), former Director of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, sadly passed away 2 February 2021.  He was a true ambassador for conservation of all four species of Lion Tamarins of Brazil and a valuable colleague, mentor, and dear friend to all those working to save them from extinction.  Jeremy was admired, respected, and loved by all who knew him.  As he himself recounted in an article he published in The Biologist in December 2020, he was intimately involved over 50 years in conservation efforts for the golden lion tamarin that grew into the development of a network of conservationists around the world working to assure a future in the wild for all four lion tamarin species (Leontopithecus spp.): golden lion tamarins (L. rosalia), golden-headed lion tamarins (L. chrysomelas), black lion tamarins (L. chrysopygus), and black-faced lion tamarins (L. caissara). The article, published just one month before his death can be found at this link.

After leaving the regular army of Rhodesia and Nyasaland as a young man, Jeremy Mallinson joined the staff of Gerald Durrell’s newly formed zoological park in Jersey.  During his nearly half century career in zoos and conservation, he studied animals in Africa, Asia, and South America.  He served as Gerald Durrell’s Deputy and Zoological Director and, after his mentor’s death in 1995, he was appointed Director of the renamed Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. He wrote more than two hundred papers and articles, addressed conferences in over twenty different countries, and was the author of eight books. He received many awards for his service to animal conservation worldwide, including a DSc (Hon) from the University of Kent and the OBE in 1997.

Beginning in 1985 he had visited Brazil on more than twenty occasions in connection with the work carried out by his Brazilian colleagues, as well as with scientists working for international NGOs, universities, and with the zoo community, for the conservation of the four species of Lion tamarins.  As JWPT succeeded in breeding three of the four lion tamarin species, Jeremy became involved in the coordination of zoo breeding programs for conservation, and in the re-introduction to their native habitat of zoo-born golden lion tamarins.  He also helped the Brazilian government rescue golden-headed lion tamarins from illegal international trade and helped develop ex situ conservation programs for numerous other species.

It was during this period, where he served as Director, that the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (JWPT), since renamed the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, was one of the sponsors of the first Leontopithecus Population Viability Analysis Workshop (PHVA), held in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 20-23 June 1990. JWPT also sponsored the Second Leontopithecus PHVA, held in Belo Horizonte 20-27 May 1997. These workshops established conservation goals and prioritized actions for all four lion tamarins.

Jeremy took great pleasure in participating in the annual meetings of the International Conservation and Management Committee (ICCM) for the Leontopithecus spp., an advisory body to the Brazilian government environment agency.  He served as committee co-chair for both Golden-headed and Black faced Lion Tamarins. In 1991 he established, through JWPT, the Lion Tamarins of Brazil Fund (LTBF), which in 1992 requested all zoo holders of the lion tamarin species outside Brazil to support in situ conservation programs for the genus. The fund is now successfully operated at the Copenhagen Zoo, first by Bengt Holst, and now by Mikkel Stelvig and Kristin Leus, and has raised substantial funding in support of lion tamarin field projects in Brazil.

Jeremy  expressed that he considered it an honor to have been involved with the conservation of tamarins and their native fragmented habitats, including the international, multidisciplinary collaborative work of Save the Golden Lion Tamarin (SGLT) and Brazil’s Associação Mico Leão Dourado (AMLD) programs.  He felt strongly that the international effort of the past 50 years on behalf of the lion tamarins represents one of the great success stories in the global conservation movement.

In honor of Jeremy Mallinson, the Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado has planted a seedling of a native tree species to form part of a corridor connecting Golden Lion Tamarins in isolated fragments of their Atlantic Forest habitat in Rio de Janeiro. We are committed to continue the work Jeremy began to assure a future for this and the other lion tamarin species.

Numerous personal, heartfelt tributes from friends who worked with Jeremy in Lion Tamarin Conservation can be found on our website, and you can find pictures of Jeremy in our Facebook album.

Friends wishing to make a contribution for lion tamarin conservation in memory of Jeremy Mallinson may contribute:

·       in the US to Save the Golden Lion Tamarin savetheliontamarin.org 

·       or in Europe to The Lion Tamarins of Brazil Fund ltbf.org