Facts About Marmosets
Facts About Marmosets
By Alina Bradford, Live Science Contributor | March 28, 2017 08:20pm ET
Marmosets are small monkeys that live high up in the canopies of South American rainforests. There are more than 20 species, and most could fit comfortably in an adult human's hand.
Size & description
Marmosets have soft and silky hair, and many have tufts of hair or manes on either side of their faces, which are sparsely furred or naked, according to the Animal Diversity Web (ADW). There is a wide variety of colors among marmosets, from black to brown to silver to bright orange.
Marmosets tend to stay in the treetops and behave a lot like squirrels. They have long tails — longer than their bodies, usually — but unlike other New World monkeys (capuchins and squirrel monkeys, for example), their tails are not prehensile; that is, marmosets can't use their tails to grasp things. However, their tails do help them keep their balance as they scamper among the branches, according to the San Diego Zoo.
Their hands and feet resemble those of squirrels, according to the ADW. Except for the big toe, which have nails, their digits have sharp claws. Also, the big toe and the thumb are not opposable. Marmosets, as well as their close cousins, tamarins, are considered to be the most primitive monkeys because of these anatomical characteristics, according to Dennis O'Neil, a professor of behavioral science at Palomar College in San Marcos, California.
More:
http://www.livescience.com/58447-marmoset-facts.html
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Baby Pygmy Marmoset
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