Pygmy Marmoset

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Pygmy Marmoset
Dværgsilkeabe Callithrix pygmaea.jpg
Conservation status
Status iucn3.1 LC.svg
Least Concern (IUCN)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Family: Cebidae
Genus: Callithrix
Subgenus: Cebuella
Species: C. pygmaea
Binomial name
Callithrix (Cebuella) pygmaea
Spix, 1823

Pygmy marmosets are the smallest marmosets and one of the smallest of all primates. They inhabit Brazil, Ecuador , Peru and Colombia.

[change] Description

Pygmy marmosets have tawny agouti fur (the tip of the hair is a different colour to the base) with an indistinctly dark-ringed tail.

[change] Habitat

They live in flooded forest near rivers, bamboo thickets and the edges of agricultural fields.

[change] Diet

Pygmy marmosets mainly feed on gum (tree exudates, sap), but they also eat fruit, nectar and animal prey. They gouge holes in the bark of trees, and revisit these holes daily to collect the sap.