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Common Name
Pygmy Marmoset
Species
Cebuella pygmaea IUCN Status
Lower Risk
Common Classification
New World Monkey
Range Countries
Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia
Habitat
Inhabit flood plain forests near rivers, bamboo thickets, edges of agricultural fields, and secondary growth.
Physical Characteristics
- Head and Body length: 136 mm (117-152 mm)
- Tail length: 202 mm (172-229 mm)
- Weight: male – 130 g (99-160 g); female – 126 g (112-140 g)
Distinguishing features
Smallest New World primate, coats can be sandy gray on their back, lighter and often tinted with orange on their under parts, a dark brown color and gray on their head and neck and a yellow or orange tint on their hands and feet, the tail is subtly ringed with black and a lighter sandy colors.
LEARN MORE: Read a Q&A about marmosets with Primatologists Russ Mittermeier and Anthony Rylands
Diet
Primarily eat gum, but supplement diet with fruit, nectar, and animal prey.
Behavior
Can leap up to 5m, typically 1-male/1-female family groups with up to 4 litters of offspring, diurnal, arboreal, chatter when angered, display a threat by turning around and lifting their tail to show genitalia, gnaw into trees with incisors to remove gum or sap for food.
Threats
Threats include collection for the pet trade, however, can adapt to human activities and invasion fairly well and can live in virgin or degraded forests.
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