Zoos Involved in Reintroductions

Golden Lion Tamarin Reintroduction may be the most internationally collaborative program in the history of animal conservation.

Forty-three institutions, including 41 zoos, one primate center, and one university research colony, were home to the 146 captive-born golden lion tamarins that were reintroduced to the wild in Brazil between 1984 and 2001. Some were born at and spent their whole lives in one institution, and some were transferred once or twice before entering the reintroduction program.

These institutions were located in eight countries on three continents, making this reintroduction arguably the most collaborative, international conservation effort in history.

The institutions (some of which no longer exist) were: Apenheul Primate Park (Apeldoorn, Netherlands), Audubon Park & Zoological Garden (New Orleans, Louisiana), Belfast Zoological Gardens (Belfast, Ireland), Brandywine Zoo (Wilmington, Delaware), Chicago Zoological Society/Brookfield Zoo (Brookfield, Illinois), Cohanzik Zoo (Bridgeton, New Jersey), Denver Zoological Society (Denver, Colorado), Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (Jersey, Channel Islands), El Paso Zoo (El Paso, Texas), Fort Worth Zoo (Fort Worth, Texas), Henry Doorley Zoo (Omaha, Nebraska), Hogle Zoological Gardens (Salt Lake City, Utah), Honolulu Zoo (Honolulu, Hawaii), Kings, Island (Mason, Ohio), Lincoln Children’s Zoo (Omaha, Nebraska), Los Angeles Zoo (Los Angeles, California), Marwell Zoological Park (Winchester, U.K.), Mill Mountain Zoo (Roanoke, Virginia), Milwaukee County Zoological Gardens (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Monkey Jungle (Miami, Florida), Oklahoma City Zoo (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), Paignton Zoo (Paignton, U.K.), Penscynor Wildlife Park (Neath, U.K.), Potowatomi Zoo (South Bend, Indiana), Rio de Janeiro Primate Center (Guapimirim, Brazil), Riverbanks Zoo (Columbia, South Carolina), San Antonio Zoological Gardens & Aquarium (San Antonio, Texas), Sedgwick County Zoo (Wichita, Kansas), Skansen-Akvariet (Stockholm, Sweden), Smithsonian National Zoological Park (Washington, D.C.), Sunset Zoo (Manhattan, Kansas), Tulsa Zoo (Tulsa, Oklahoma), University of Nebraska (Omaha, Nebraska), Washington Park Zoo (Portland, Oregon), Wyld Court (U.K.), Zoo Atlanta (Atlanta, Georgia), Zoo Emmen (Emmen, Netherlands), Zoo Frankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany), Zoo La Palmyre (Les Mathes, France), Zoo Wuppertal (Wuppertal, Germany), Zoologischer Garten Basel (Basel, Switzerland), and Zoogischer Garten Köln (Cologne, Germany).

Quarantine was provided by the Smithsonian National Zoo, Rio de Janeiro Primate Center, Chicago Zoological Society/Brookfield Zoo, Apeldoorn Primate Park, and Columbus Zoo.

Major funding for the reintroduction was provided by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Smithsonian National Zoo, and Zoologischer Garten Frankfurt.

In the table below, the GLTs are identified by their four-digit studbook number. A studbook number is a specific identifier that is assigned to each captive-born GLT and many wild-born descendants of the reintroduced GLTs and many wild GLTs as well. The studbook number is tattooed on the inner thigh of many of these GLTs for positive life-long identification. The higher the number, the more recently the GLT studbook keeper has assigned it. The studbook also identifies the parents of each GLT, which allows their genetic lineages to be traced.

Column 1 of the table lists the names of the 43 Institutions, in alphabetical order.

Column 2 is the studbook numbers of the GLTs that were born in each institution.

Column 3 is the studbook numbers of the GLTs that were transferred after birth to each institution.

Column 4 is the studbook numbers of the GLTs that were sent from each institution to pre-shipment quarantine. This does not include the pre-shipment quarantine itself, which occurred at the Smithsonian National Zoo, Rio de Janeiro Primate Center, Brookfield, Apeldoorn, or Columbus.

Please contact SGLT Board Member Ben Beck with questions.