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Pygmy marmoset - closeup 2, Putumayo, Colombia
In the afternoon of this day, we made way to some farmland on the outskirts of Mocoa where we would have good odds to see a Pygmy Marmoset. These are the smallest monkeys in the world, yet not the smallest primates, weighing a mere 100 grams as an adult. They typically have tiny feeding territories where they hang around 1 or 2 trees from which they drink the gum (sap). I've included a photo of such a tree in this set. They stick around that tree until it is depleted, and then move their territory. Since we knew the location of the tree, all we had to was wait for it to come and feed on it. I didn't actually feed on it, yet after 30 mins of waiting one did make a careful approach.
I'm unsure whether this is the male or female, as they look the same, the female is just a little bit heavier.
The pygmy marmoset is a small New World monkey native to rainforests of the western Amazon Basin in South America. It is notable for being the smallest monkey and one of the smallest primates in the world at just over 100 grams. It is generally found in evergreen and river edge forests and is a gum-feeding specialist.
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Indeed, none of these shots do a good job of putting their size in perspective. Our guide Brayan spotted it when it was about 40m away, using binoculars. Took us a long time just to see what he saw. It was a tiny black rounding on a branch. It looked like it was part of the branch, that small.
If you wouldn't be looking for it, you could still miss it up close. In this shot...
...Note the leafs to the left. Those are just ordinary, average-sized leafs you would find anywhere. So one way to look a its size is "2 leafs high". Quite small. It's even smaller than "a fist higher than a pig". Posted 6 years ago, modified 6 years ago