The pygmy marmoset is the smallest monkey in the world. A full-grown adult weighs just over 100 grams. But there’s nothing tiny about its tail: it is longer than its body! Native to rainforests of the western Amazon Basin in South America, it can leap over 30 times its body length across the treetops, and turn its head backward to spot predators. Tree sap is its favourite food for which it gouges a hole in the bark with its sharp teeth; when the sap collects in the hole, laps it up with its tongue. Pygmy marmosets like certain trees within their territory and can make up to 1,300 holes in each tree!
The dense fur of this monkey is a mix of brown, gold, gray, orange-yellows, and blacks. The tail, which is longer than the body, is ringed. The monkey can swivel its head 180 degrees, leap as far as 16 feet, and has a digestive system made for breaking down tree sap and other exudations.
As with other marmosets, only one female breeds, and the entire family pitches in to care for the young.
This monkey has a specialized diet of tree gum. It gnaws holes in the bark of appropriate trees and vines with its specialized dentition to elicit the production of gum. When the sap puddles up in the hole, it laps it up with its tongue. It also lies in wait for insects, especially butterflies, which are attracted to the sap holes. It supplements its diet with nectar and fruit. A group’s home range is 0.1 to 0.4 hectares (0.25 to 0.99 acres), and feeding is usually concentrated on one or two trees at a time. When those become depleted, a group moves to a new home range. Brown-mantled tamarins are generally sympatric with pygmy marmosets and often raid pygmy marmosets’ gum holes.
Picture Credit : Google
