The smallest monkey in the World has to be the Pygmy Marmoset Callithrix (Cebuella) pygmaea.  This miniscule monkey is native to the rainforests of Western Brazil, Bolivia, Southeast Columbia, Eastern Ecuador and Eastern Peru.

Of all the primates in the World, this is definitely the smallest, a monkey so small that a full grown adult measures only 14cm tall and weighs a maximum of 5 ounces, so small that it is very hard to find in the forests and special excursions have to be made by primatologists over several days to see one. 

The fact that the monkey can run and scurry fast or remain completely motionless for several minutes doesn't make things any easier.

The Pygmy Marmoset has only been discovered in two different species...

• Callithrix (Cebuella) pygmaea pygmaea

• Callithrix (Cebuella) pygmaea niveiventris

They have a tawny buff coat with grey and yellow-green striations that give good camouflage in its surroundings, They have long hair on their heads and chests and their tails that can be about 15cm long have small bands around it.

Their little tiny hands and feet are specialized tools for this monkey in that they are adapted specifically for climbing trees and branches.  With claws on all five fingers except its big toe with has a flat nail to help climbing wet and slippery trees.

The Pygmy Marmoset is omnivorous in that it will eat both fruit, leaves, berries and insects with small lizards and newts also on the menu.  However, this little monkeys favorite food is the sap out of tree trunks and they spend most of their time nibbling away through bark to get to it. 

The Pygmy Marmosets teeth have actually evolved for this purpose and they can chew their way through bark quite easily

Because this little monkey weighs so little it has the ability to climb onto branches that would not support the weight of other monkeys and get to food resources there.

These little monkeys move very swiftly and can leap, run and scurry with great agility amongst the trees and branches.

Pygmy Marmosets are very gentle, mildly mannered and docile little creatures but as in lots of animals in they wild they are very territorial and can defend large areas of land of up to a hundred acres of their living area.

They mark their territory with a scent, located from sweat glands in their chests and they use high pitch shrill squeaks to warn away others.  It has been noted too via sensitive electronic equipment that they can make such a shrill squeak as not to be audible to people.

They also use scent to communicate along with their high pitched squeaks.  It has been observed that these little monkeys also use facial expressions and body language signs to get their message across to their counterparts.

They live in sociable groups of two to six members in each with two adults looking after each group.  The dominant female of a group is the only one to have babies that weigh about ½ ounce and the males carry them young on their backs and also rear them whilst the mother tends to simple nursing and grooming.  These young monkeys reach adult maturity after about 24 months.

They are born with their eyes open, they have a full coat of fur, and all of their little teeth are growing through.  Also they already have relatively strong little arms, these are needed for clutching onto the parent.

These Pygmy Marmosets are threatened due to the increase in rain forest destruction and could soon be another to join the growing list of endangered species.  Primatologists are not entirely sure how many of these little monkeys there actually are in the wild as they are very difficult to observe or in most cases...difficult to even find !

The fact that these monkeys are adaptable to changes in the environment  is perhaps their saving grace, as they can live in the smallest areas of forest and even in undergrowth next to farm holdings.

The greatest threat to them though is that when they are seen by local natives, attempts to then capture them is rife, as rife as the increasing pet trade.  This activity is  illegal, but is rarely enforced.

The other threat to them is of course their natural predators, and these are in the shape of birds of prey that can swoop down rapidly on them and snatch them away before they have time to run and hide.

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The Smallest Primate in The World

        The Pygmy Mouse Lemur

The Pygmy Mouse Lemur Microcebus myoxinus is miniscule and wins as the overall smallest primate in the world weighing in at only 1 ounce (30 grams) and is only 6 cm long, not including its little tail that is about 12cm long. Pygmy Mouse Lemurs have an orange-brown colored body, with creamy-white fur on their underside.  A thin white stripe grows down from the nose to the forehead and a black stripe grows all down their back.

It is native to the small Kirindy tropical dry forest in Madagascar off the East Coast of Africa where they rarely leave the forests trees and protection afforded by them.

They are omnivorous in that they will eat, small plants, berries, fruits along with small newts and insects.  Pygmy Mouse Lemurs are quite adaptable and can survival quite well without eating for days by storing up fats in their tails and hind legs, they may store up to a third of an ounce this way.

The name 'Lemur' is derived from the Latin word 'lemures' and means 'ghost' as the Madagascan people think of these little monkeys as spirits of the jungle, this is probably endorsed even more by the fact that the Pygmy Mouse Lemur has comparatively large gazing round eyes like a Tarsier.

This tiny little monkey is so small that it is almost impossible to find in the rain forests, as not only are they small but they can move like lightning and scurry and hide behind a bush, tree trunk or even a few leaves.

In fact the Pygmy Mouse Lemur was sort of 'lost' for over a hundred years until 1993 when it was discovered again by accident in the Kirindy forest in Madagascar.  It is thought that they may inhabit other parts of Madagascar but none have ever been seen, literally !  

There are though to be eight species of Pygmy Mouse Lemurs with several species only recently being identified, this again shows how little is actually known about these interesting and curios little primates.

They are said to live in groups of up to 15, they are very swift and agile and can scamper up tall thin branches, both for food and also to sleep.

Pygmy Mouse Lemurs are a protected and endangered species and hunting them is illegal, but as with the Marmosets this is rarely enforced and these little tiny monkeys still end up getting captured for sale within the pet trade.

It's true that these little animals welfare is probably better when kept as a pet, getting food, warmth and shelter everyday with no fear of being eaten alive by predators.  It just has to be assured that they are not all taken from their natural habitat like the Panda almost was.

In a strange way, keeping these animals as pets can ensure their survival.  As their habitat is slowly getting destroyed, so are the animals also getting destroyed.  It is then only the animals in the Zoo's and as pets in peoples homes that will actually survive.

The greatest threat to wild animals/mammals/marsupials/creatures great and small is the old story now of depleted and destroyed forests, as man continues to strip away these natural resources for more and more revenue.  As the animals move away, they do not know how to survive in new forestless surroundings, and this is the danger that they face...extinction !

I am not endorsing people keeping these animals as exotic pets but once an animal becomes extinct in the wild, that's it...there is no bringing it back. So is it a good thing or a bad thing, only the future will tell.