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| Common Name: | Eastern pygmy marmoset | Family: | Callitrichidae |
| Latin Name: | Callithrix pygmaea nivieventris | Diet: | Omnivore |
| Type: | Mammal | Habitat: | Tropical rainforests |
| Native To: | South America | Social Unit: | Group |
| IUCN Red List Status: | Least concern |
Eastern pygmy marmosets at Edinburgh Zoo
Edinburgh Zoo has a large family group of Eastern pygmy marmosets who live in the Magic Forest. The oldest male, Sleepy, was born in September 2003 and arrived at Edinburgh Zoo in February 2005 from Shaldon Zoo, England. Our oldest female, Rugrat, was born in January 2002 and came from Belfast Zoo in March 2005. Together they had a daughter called Vanessa in August 2005.
Another daughter, Bertha, was born in February 2006. She was followed in July 2006 by a set of twins: a son named Whopper and another daughter, Big Mac. Sleepy and Rugrat became parents in May 2007 to another set of twins, both males, with the arrival of Colossus and Titan.
2008 saw three arrivals - another daughter, named Maximus, was born in March, son Thor was born in August, and another infant, named Apocalypse, was born in November. In 2009 Hercules, Gigantor, Spartacus and Terminator were born, followed by two more babies in November of that year. As of February 2010, the two newest babies are still too young for keepers to determine their sex.
As you can see, we like to give our smallest primates very big names!
Where it can be found at Edinburgh Zoo
Magic Forest
Eastern pygmy marmosets in the wild
Eastern pygmy marmosets (Callithrix pygmaea nivieventris) are the smallest primate in the world, and weigh about 6 oz. They are found in Brazil, Ecuador and Peru. Their habitat includes floodplain forest, which is close to rivers, the edges of agricultural fields, secondary growth forest, and also areas of bamboo.
A family group of pygmy marmosets is made up of an adult male and female, the main breeding pair, and offspring of varying ages. The group size can be as many as 15. The adult male and previous offspring carry the newborns, while the female does none of the parental care—she only has to feed them.
A group of pygmy marmosets have a territory which they patrol daily, and will defend it from other pygmy groups that happen to cross into it. They will do this with the whole group working together.
The wild diet of pygmy marmosets is mostly tree gum, and makes up about 60-70 percent of their diet. The bottom jaw of the pygmy marmoset is V-shaped to allow it to make holes in the tree bark. These holes let the tree’s gum flow out, and then the pygmies lick it up. A pygmy group will visit these trees throughout the day to eat the gum.
Other parts of the pygmy marmoset’s diet include fruit, insects, lizards, and spiders. During the dry season, when there are fewer insects and fruits around, nectar is very important to the pygmies.
Pygmy marmosets forage for insects in small and medium-sized trees and in vine tangles. They rarely go down to the ground, but will do so to catch grasshoppers. Larger insects are a favourite food, as they have more protein in them and are worth the extra effort in catching. Pygmies jump on the insects to catch them. They can eat larger insects than would be expected for their small size!
The eastern pygmy marmosets display a threat by turning around and lifting their tail to show their genitalia, and sometimes also urinate while doing this.
Pygmy marmosets often share the same area as spix black-mantled tamarins (S. Nigricollis). These tamarins can benefit from living with pygmy marmosets by visiting the trees that the marmosets have gouged the gum from. Tamarins are unable to gouge the tree bark to get tree gum, because their teeth are U-shaped.
Breeding programme category:
IUCN Red List category: Least concern
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