 Pygmy
Marmoset
scientific
name
Callithrix
pygmaea
size/weight/height
head & body 6.9 in. • tail 7.6 in. • 4.2-6.6
oz
adaptations/coloration
Head & Neck:
dark brown and gray or buff • hair of head and cheek forms mane
Back: grayish, black mixed with buff or tawny
Hands & Feet:
yellowish or orangish
Tail: indistinctly ringed black and tawny
Underparts: orangish white to tawny
Genital area: bordered in thick
black
White spots at each mouth corner and white or light nasal ridge
stripe • thought to help visual communication in gloomy understory
habitat
Incisors long & lower canines short • teeth specialized
for gouging holes in trees
Claws on fingers and toes
can turn head
180° (watch for predators while eating)
behavior
Diurnal
Locomotion: runs along branches and vines on claw tips
• clings vertically with tail pressed to tree as a prop
Troops: 5-10 • troop may put hundreds of holes in a sq. yard of
the tree to eat sap
• troop spends 70-80% time in sap tree • will live close to
man in degraded habitats • temporary pair
bonds
or polyandry
Food: arboreal • feeds
first thing in morning, alternates play and grooming with foraging
for other food, ends day with long sap feeding
Home range: ~250 x 131 ft centered on sap tree •
range moves when sap gives out Voice: trills for long distance,
warning whistles, clicking sound for threats
reproduction/lifespan
Breeding:
only dominate female in troop bears young • all males try to
breed Gestation
136 days
Birth: twins common, triplets occasionally
Young: baby carried
by mother for first 1-2 wks, at 3 wks will leave occasionally in
protected spots • male and other troop members start carrying at
~3 wks w infrants carried until 7-8 wks • begin weaning at 6 wks
• young will begin to try to eat sap at 6 wks
Sexual maturity 18-24
mo
diet
Wild:
tree sap of over 50 species of trees, fruit, buds and insects
Zoo:
fruits, new world primate diet, meal worms
habitat/range
lowland tropical forests • prefers thick, low second growth always
near streams • non-flooding forest or only flooded to 2-3 in for less
than 3 mo of yr • Upper Amazon - W Brazil, SE Columbia, E Ecuador,
E Peru
status
not listed
other
smallest
New World primate • primary predator: diurnal raptors • found in Columbian local pet trade, used to pick lice from people's
hair
oregon
zoo exhibit
Amazon Flooded Forest
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