Pygmy marmoset facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Pygmy marmoset |
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Conservation status | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | |
Phylum: | |
Class: | |
Order: | |
Family: |
Cebidae
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Genus: |
Callithrix
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Binomial name | |
Callithrix pygmaea |
Pygmy marmosets are the smallest marmosets and one of the smallest of all primates. They inhabit Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. Most pygmy marmosets lives in troops of two to nine individuals, with a dominant male, a breeding female, and up to four successive litters of offspring. The modal size of a standard stable troop would be 6 individuals.
Pygmy marmosets have tawny agouti fur (the tip of the hair is a different color to the base) with an indistinctly dark-ringed tail.
Habitat
They live in flooded forest near rivers, bamboo thickets and the edges of agricultural fields.
Diet
Pygmy marmosets mainly feed on gum (tree exudates, sap), but they also eat fruit, nectar and insects. They gouge holes in the bark of trees, and revisit these holes daily to collect the sap. The marmosets hang on with specially adapted claws.