The world's smolest monkey
March 23, 2023 6:57 PM   Subscribe

The pygmy marmoset is the smallest monkey in the world and arguably the cutest. These gummivore rainforest-dwellers are also called pocket monkey, little lion, dwarf monkey, and finger monkey.

They are smaller than an average adult human hand. They weigh less than an apple and about as much as a stick of butter. At birth, they are smaller than a pencil, human thumb, or toothbrush head (insert "new unit of measure just dropped" meme here).

Videos:

Informative: Babies: Nininta: Grabbag: Several conservation initiatives to support the species exist, including at the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (RSCF) in Florida, the Perth Zoo in Western Australia, and the Twycross Zoo in the UK. They are still plentiful in the wild and their conservation status is vulnerable; the biggest threats to pygmy marmosets are the pet trade and habitat destruction by deforestation, mining, and oil palm cultivation.
posted by joannemerriam (10 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
We call them "saguis" here in Brazil. They're truly unique, miniature wonders. They're so human in their expressions – Once, I had the chance to interact with one. They really qppreciate when someone offers them freshly chopped fruits – if you look close enough, you can see them even in natural forest clusters that are embedded in major Brazilian cities – I remember seeing a mother carrying her little baby on her back once in a tree here in São Paulo!
posted by Roverlaw at 7:21 PM on March 23, 2023 [14 favorites]


Missing from the "Grabbag" section, above: The Marmoset Song.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:45 PM on March 23, 2023 [7 favorites]


The early internet was awash with stories of the ink monkey, reputedly kept by scholars in ancient China.
posted by fairmettle at 7:51 PM on March 23, 2023


More grab bag; Sesame Street creature feature on marmosets.
posted by ActionPopulated at 8:37 PM on March 23, 2023


Ninita is indeed ridiculously cute, I recommend watching the RSCF videos!
posted by tavella at 9:01 PM on March 23, 2023


Even though they are the smallest of all the monkeys, pygmy marmosets can leap more than 16 feet.
Odd, indeed. They are not a whole lot bigger than the leopard gecko who lives in this house, and he doesn’t leap at all*. I’m very glad he doesn’t leap sixteen feet.

*Well, I tell a lie; the gecko doesn’t leap as a matter of course but once we got some larger than usual mealworms for his dinner. He usual gait when approaching his dinner is somewhere between an intermittent amble and a tentative slink. I am not sure why this one occasion saw him do it differently, but he actually pounced... and leapt all of about five inches to sprawl gracelessly on the floor of his enclosure.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:35 AM on March 24, 2023 [4 favorites]


Cute smol guys, never heard the term 'gummivore' before. Wonderful way to start the weekend with some cute monkey babies
posted by simonsiminsimon at 7:12 AM on March 24, 2023


never heard the term 'gummivore' before.

My occasional bandmate Chris, since edibles became legal here, now consumes such a steady stream of gummies that he might technically be classified as a gummivore.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:19 AM on March 24, 2023 [2 favorites]


I'll be enjoying these links for a while, when I need tiny monkey energy.
They remind me, visually, the way their eyes are set and their ears, of Pallas cats. And it's so interesting to see tiny creatures make those quick jerky little movements, as if our big eyes and senses can't deal with the way they move.
posted by winesong at 4:37 PM on March 24, 2023 [1 favorite]


These little guys are usually photographed on a banana & they look ecstatic! (Not unlike how I would appear if I were lying on a Snickers bar the size of a couch.)
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 10:21 AM on March 27, 2023


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