COMMON MARMOSETS

Common marmosets are small, long-tailed monkeys that live in the treetops and canopy of Northeast Brazil.

They have specialised claws rather than fingernails, which allows them to have a firm grip on bark and climb up tree trunks and branches quickly and with ease.

Marmosets are omnivorous and eat insects, frogs, lizards, spiders, leaves, flowers and fruit. Their favourite food is tree sap/gum. They use their sharp, short, lower canines to punch holes in tree bark, which continuously bleed sap. They maintain these ‘sap taps’ in a primitive kind of harvesting.

In the wild, they live in small mixed-sex groups with an average size of 8 to 12 individuals. Only the head male and female will produce offspring. It is common for them to give birth to twins. Fathers actively help to give birth to their young, biting through the umbilical cord and ensuring the young attach to the mothers. Raising the young can be a family affair.

The marmoset is a highly adaptable primate. Because of this, it has not been affected by human changes in its environment, which gives it a "Least Concern" conservation status. In captivity, it can live up to 16 years.