The world’s smallest monkey
The Pygmy Marmoset is one of the smallest weird animals around and goes commonly by the names of Dwarf Monkey, Pocket Monkey and Little Lion. It kind of has the legs of a rat, the tail of a cat, the chest of a monkey and the head of a gremlin or something out of Star Wars – all in miniature form. The length of its body (not including the tail) averages 15 centimeters and males weigh around 140 grams while females only make it to 120 grams.
These strange animals are smaller than a banana and while one might take a bite out of the yellow fruit they usually prefer the sap of a tree for nutrition. The Pygmy Marmoset will spend considerable amounts of time hugging trees and sucking the juice out of them. It is able to do this because it has incisors enabling it to gouge holes in the barks of trees. The color of its fur usually provides excellent camouflage for the time it spends in trees. Otherwise it eats insects, leaves and has been known to catch small lizards for breakfast here and there.
Little and strange animals that use a lot of space
In spite of its small size, it will mark and defend territories of up to 100 acres with its scent. If another monkey enters its territory it may try to repel the invader with calls, gestures or simply chase it away. Pygmy Marmoset band together in small groups of up to 6 monkeys and are usually pretty soft and gentle even though the female is regularly dominant. They do like to groom each other nonetheless. It is quite interesting that they practice monogamy which is fairly rare amongst primates.
It must have strong lungs…
This monkey has special communication skills in the form of scents, vocals and various physical noises. They commonly make high pitch bird sounds and are able to communicate using facial expressions and body gestures. When faced with danger they produce an ultrasonic shriek that is inaudible to the human ear. These weird animals are able to communicate with family members over medium and long distances if the need be.
Talk a walk in the Amazon to see one
Pygmy Marmoset are found in the Northern parts of South America and in Central America. They like to hang out in the rain forests of the Amazon – especially where there is water such as rivers, streams and food plains. Trying to catch and see one in the wilderness, however, is no easy task as it is so small and swift. They are very active and will run, jump, dash and leap around giving a hard time to predators who would like to eat them. They usually live up to around 11 years in the wild.
