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Bronx Zoo News & Events

Watch the twins monkey around ©Photo by J.Maher; video by L.Groskin

The world’s smallest monkey—about five inches long and a half-pound light—is certainly not short on personality…or hair. Look closely at the pygmy marmoset’s tiny, expressive face set inside a halo of gold-tinged, salt-and-pepper fur, and you’ll be charmed. These agile primates are extremely curious and always busy as they dart between tree branches. Pygmy marmosets, Cebuella pygmaea, are native to the floodplain forests along river edges in Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru.

Family Matters
The Bronx Zoo’s family of pygmy marmosets recently grew with the birth of twins on November 11, 2007. The group lives in a habitat of the Congo Gorilla Forest, where visitors can view them year-round. Three-year-old mom—“Squirt”—and seven-year-old dad— “King”—work together to rear their toddlers with the help of their older offspring. Pygmy marmoset dads carry their babies on piggyback for the first few months, handing them over to mom when it’s time to nurse. As the youngsters grow more independent, mom and dad will still provide regular grooming—an important part of social bonding for primates.

Pygmy marmosets live in groups of two to six, which includes the adult pair and its offspring. Males and females usually mate for life. Individuals communicate using scent markings and a variety of high-pitched calls, facial expressions, and postures. When threatened—as by an eagle, a snake, or a cat—a pygmy marmoset group will make a chorus of chirps as warning to others.

Tree-Tapping
Arboreal (tree-living) pygmy marmosets feed primarily on tree sap or “gum,” which they procure by gouging holes in trees to create a steady, sticky flow. This process can be very time-consuming—the monkeys spend much of their day gnawing tree trunks or large branches from which they can collect the gum. They also eat fruit, nectar, and small animals such as insects and lizards.

Conservation Concerns
The biggest threat to these and other monkeys that live on forest edges is habitat degradation, due to the encroachment of human communities and the spread of agricultural lands into the forest. Pygmy marmosets are also trapped and sold for the pet trade. The species is not currently endangered—in part, due to their adaptability to environmental changes caused by humans.