Thanks to an environmental reserve in Brazil, the endangered Golden Lion Tamarin's population is finally more stable after 40 years of the monkey being one of the most threatened primates in the world.

In 1982, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, placed the Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) on its endangered species list. From 1996 until 2000, the animal was considered critically endangered.

The Mico Leon Dorado Association (AMLD) began its efforts to save the iconic Brazilian animal (the primate is printed on Brazil's 20-reais bill) in the 1970s by studying the animal, EFE reports. In the 1980s, the Golden Lion Tamarins' population was just 200. Now, the association says there are 3,200 Golden Lion Tamarins living on its preserve. The group works to save the Atlantic Forest, where the endangered species lives.

"One of our teams focuses on environmental education and the training of teachers, another works on restoring forest areas and yet another works with small-scale farmers in the region so they help protect the vegetation," Jaldir Hilario Ramos, an assistant researcher who has worked with reserve since 1987, said.

According to Luis Paulo Ferraz, AMLD executive secretary, the Golden Lion Tamarin's fate changed when the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve opened in 1974.

"Since then, the situation has improved a lot," Ramos said. "The monkey was on the brink of extinction and now, thanks to this effort, the situation has changed."

The monkey is still threatened, however.

Ferraz said that the reserve is not big enough for the thousands of Golden Lion Tamarins living there.

"The goal was to reach a population of some 2,000 monkeys on 25,000 hectares [61,775 acres] of protected and interconnected forests," he said. "But now, with more than 3,200 monkeys, we have only 12,500 hectares [30,900 acres] of forest, and the tree-covered areas are small and fragmented, like islands of forest."

Golden Lion Tamarins need the high branches in "forested corridors" to live, EFE reports.

AMLD is now working to get the animal international attention by convincing the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro use the monkey as its official mascot.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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