In 1980 the Brazilian government created the Una Biological Reserve for the protection of the golden-headed lion tamarin and its habitat. Over the years the park has been growing slowly as the government acquires more land. The population at Una is the largest population in the most intact forest. There is also a captive breeding colony of 25 golden-headed lion tamarins at the Rio de Janeiro Primate Center. Due to a great amount of help, scientist believe that there are around 6000 Golden-headed lion tamarin in the wild.