The golden-mantled tamarin is an arboreal, diurnal species ranging through the understory, moving by quadrupedal walk and leap, mainly on small horizontal supports. Leaping is the main gap-crossing mode of locomotion, though it decreases in proportion with a higher use of the upper forest layers.[6] It forages most actively between 4–10 meters off the forest floor, and eats mainly fruit, nectar and insects but also consumes gum from either natural holes or holes created by the pygmy marmoset.