August 2nd - International GLT Day
A Global Celebration of Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation
See our 2023 GLT Day Winners here!
August 2, 2023 - GLT Day Challenge
August 2, 2022 — Save the Golden Lion Tamarin is grateful to its international supporters of this year’s Golden Lion Tamarin Day held Aug. 2. GLT` Day is an international celebration of conservation of this endangered monkey living in the Brazilian Atlantic Coastal Rainforest.
There were several exciting events that marked this year’s celebration — a special observance because GLT Day corresponded with the 30th anniversary of Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, SGLT’s partner organization in Brazil.
“This GLT Day — and week — was a special time for celebrating connections among all of us who have contributed to GLT conservation over the last 30 years and new commitments to assuring a future in the Atlantic Forest for this fascinating species,” said Lou Ann Dietz, president of SGLT and founding director of AMLD.
AMLD sponsored a week’s worth of events in Brazil to mark this milestone anniversary. The activities included the opening of the Golden Lion Tamarin EcoPark and visits by local and international partners. The public enjoyed music, food and a fair featuring locally produced handcrafts and beverages.
Additionally, organizers hosted a day-long seminar titled "30 Years of AMLD: Past, Present, and Future" and four days of workshops about conservation progress and planning to save the species from extinction.
Outside of Brazil, supporters, including zoo partners from all over the world helped spread awareness about GLT Day. The Frankfurt Zoo in Germany sponsored an information desk with information on GLTs, AMLD and the different species of lion tamarins. Several other zoos hosted children’s events, held presentations about GLTs and posted photos of GLTs on social media.
To honor the important role zoos and aquariums have in GLT conservation, SGLT invited participants to submit a zoo-based photo of this small but mighty primate. Submissions were considered under three separate photographer categories: professional; nonprofessional; and zoo and aquarium staff.
The winners and the zoos or aquariums where their photos were taken are:
Professional: Sally Foster, Albuquerque Zoo, USA; Dylan Januel, Safari de Peaugres, France; and Virginie Langlois, The Montréal Biodôme, Canada.
Nonprofessional: Miriam Fromme, Zoo of Cologne, Germany; Willem Hol, ZooParc Overloon, The Netherlands; Sylvia Kreft, Zoo of Cologne, Germany.
Zoo and aquarium staff: Bo Johnson, Skansen Aquarium, Sweden; Cate Lloyd; Houston Zoo, USA; Florence Perroux, La Palmyre Zoo, France.
The photo challenge had participation from 92 individuals from 13 different countries. The winners will have a tree planted in their name in the GLT habitat near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The planting of trees supports the connection of isolated tracts of forest where golden lion tamarins live in the wild.
To view the winning photographs and learn more about GLTs and SGLT, we invite you to visit our website at savetheliontamarin.org.
SGLT thanks everyone who celebrated GLT Day with us and we are already looking forward to next year’s events. In the meantime, please stay engaged by visiting the SGLT website, subscribing to our newsletter and donating to this important mission of saving golden lion tamarins.
Frankfurt Zoo staff getting ready to interact with visitors about golden lion tamarins on GLT Day 2022.
SGLT President Lou Ann Dietz and Vice President Jim Dietz plant a tree during GLT Day festivities in Brazil.
Learn about Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation
Here are resources and learning activities you can easily and safely do with your family or with a few friends:
For more information see About GLTs, Fact Sheet, FAQs,and our 2021 annual report.
Did you know that there are four different species of lion tamarins? Each species lives only in a different part of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. re:wild and IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group’s 2022 edition of the Pocket Identification Guide: Monkeys of the Atlantic Forest of Eastern Brazil [download] has illustrations, range maps, scientific and common names in both English and Portuguese for all 25 primate species of one of the world’s most threatened and richest tropical rainforests.
Tamarin Connections Activity - Participants use their math skills to decide on the best forest fragments to connect in order to create a larger forested habitat for the wild golden lion tamarin population to grow healthy and strong.
Our friends at Project Dragonfly through Miami University came up with this great GLT-themed activity that you can download to do at home.
Films to watch on our YouTube Channel playlist. To help you choose which ones to share as part of your celebration, click here to download synopses of all ten films in the playlist.
Download our collection of GLT Conservation photos to produce your own materials and activities.
Share What You Learn and Do on GLT Day
On social media please tag @SaveGLTs and @associacaomicoleaodourado on Facebook and @SaveTheGLT on Twitter and use these #amld #sglt #gltday #biodiversity #atlanticforest and #partnersinconservation.
Attention zoo partners: Use this GLT Day 2022 Press Kit to prepare your own social media posts.
Download these fun graphics to invite friends to share in the virtual celebration:
Facebook Cover Photos
Postcard
Zoom virtual backgrounds (click here for a video background for Zoom!)
Make a Donation to Save the Golden Lion Tamarin
Any amount will help AMLD continue its work to keep golden lion tamarins safe from extinction. Consider a monthly donation or holding a fundraiser.
Support Your Local Zoo
Zoos have played an important role in bringing golden lion tamarins back from the brink of extinction since the 1960’s. Today 150 zoos around the world (in Brazil, North America, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand) cooperate to maintain a genetically-managed population of 500 Golden Lion Tamarins as insurance against future disasters in the wild GLT population. Many of these zoos also provide significant technical and financial support to the GLT conservation activities in the wild. We thank you!
The pandemic has forced most zoos to close their gates to visitors, resulting in great financial losses. Most have had to reduce their staffs and programs. Support the zoo nearest you so it can continue to support conservation of golden lion tamarins in their Atlantic Forest in Brazil.
Host your own GLT Day Event!
We’ve provided examples of activities that you can replicate easily:
How did our International GLT Day start?
Golden Lion Tamarin Day – August 2, 2016 - download the video!
One of AMLD’s strategies to engage the local community in GLT conservation is to increase pride in the local forest and recognition that GLTs exist nowhere else in the world. On August 2, 2016, Andreia Martins, coordinator of the field team who monitors GLTs, carried the Olympic Flame through the region on its way to the Rio Olympic Games.
With local schools and businesses, AMLD organized a celebration in Silva Jardim, Andreia’s home town, recognizing Andreia and her field team as local heroes. Silva Jardim, is also where the largest population of wild GLTs live, in the federally protected Poço das Antas Biological Reserve and in the forest on private land. The Silva Jardim Municipal Council officially recognized August 2, 2016 as “Dia do Mico-Leão-Dourado” (Golden Lion Tamarin Day). AMLD and SGLT started celebrating International GLT Day the following year on August 2nd, 2017, and have supported GLT fans around the world in celebrating this day ever since.
In 2018, the Brazilian government officially declared August 2 as National Golden Lion Tamarin Day.
2017 Brazilian Zoo Society's Year of the Golden Lion Tamarin - click here to download the video!
Produced in 2017 for use in a year-long educational campaign conducted by Brazilian Zoos, this film summarizes the history of golden lion tamarin conservation, current challenges, and conservation action.