These small monkeys weigh around a pound and have a silky, golden coat and a lion-like mane. Its fingers are long and slender and slightly webbed.
Tamarins eat fruit, insects, eggs, and occasionally catch small lizards, toads, and frogs.
Each tamarin family maintains a territory of around 100 acres, defined by scent marking and inter-group vocalizations. Their natural enemies are snakes and birds of prey. The tamarin's habitat is shrinking due to the development of plantations, cattle grazing, and condominiums. With the development also comes human diseases such as rubeola and herpes to which tamarins are highly susceptible. As part of a long range conservation plan, a golden lion tamarin biological reserve was created in Brazil in 1979.