Marmosets belong to the family Callithricidae, as opposed to the true monkeys, which belong to the family Cebidae. Yet marmosets have been described by one eminent naturalist as “the most perfectly adapted of all Primates for arboreal existence.”
Their movements are quick and jerky, and are carried out with such suddenness that they can disappear in the blink of an eye. This, actually, is the only defense they need against a stronger adversary with whom one may find itself suddenly confronted. Its tactic is to stare at its enemy and hope that, while the latter is trying to make up its mind how to attack, some momentary distraction may catch its eye for a second. In that second the marmoset will have leaped to new cover and safety.
Like most monkeys and near-monkeys, marmosets travel in bands—males, females and children of a family together. The marmoset’s diet is made up mainly of insects, which it obtains with characteristic quick movements. It is one of the paradoxes of the marmoset that while being relatively limited in its facial expressions, it is thought by many to be among the platyrrhini that most closely resemble man. It does not grimace or smirk or make faces the way many monkeys do. To convey its anger or displeasure it can only pull back its lips and bare its teeth. This is about the limit of its expressiveness and yet in composure the face of the rharmoset is much more like man’s than those of some of the more imitative monkeys. The marmoset has sharp, pointed teeth which can easily pierce human skin. Yet as a rule it becomes a pleasant pet, friendly to those it knows, though something of a danger to strangers who approach too close.
According to Edward Bartlett, a famous naturalist who explored the Amazon animal world, the Indian women of Peru make pets of marmosets. Marmosets were brought back to Europe from the New World in the middle of the sixteenth century and though they were not classified by naturalists for another two centuries, they almost immediately became the prized pets of the royal and the wealthy aristocrats. Perhaps the most prized and Although this may seem cruel, it is probably instinctive, and in any event a kindness to the two that survive. The survivors, being well nourished, both have a better chance of survival in the forest than any one would have had if all three had lived.
At birth the mate assists, receiving each baby as it is born, bathing it with his tongue, and transferring it to his back, where it clings, hidden in his long hair. His services do not end there either, for he carries the children on his back, sometimes for as many as seven weeks afterwards. It is usual for the young marmoset to begin its independent acquaintance with the world at about three weeks of age, when it may climb down off its father’s back and make short trips into its surroundings. But it hurries back at the first sign of danger or in response to any summons from its father. The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchits) is also known by the name ouistiti, which was given to it by the Amazon Indians. The ouistiti’s mating cry is the same as its name—”uistiti-uistiti.”
The Indians of the Amazon naturally saw a great deal of the many different kinds of monkeys in the tropical forests of that region, and it is not surprising that many of their myths and legends, like those of the northern Indians that dealt with deer and buffalo, concern the little primates of the New World.
The Indians tell this story of the way the monkey came to behave as it does—to utter its flute-like cries, and to live so much in the trees.
“Long, long ago the Monkey and the Tapir were friends and often spent their time together. One day they decided to take a walk in the forest. The Tapir had his flute with him, an instrument that he delighted in playing much of the time. The Monkey was envious of the Tapir’s flute and he talked the Tapir into lending it to him, though the Tapir was not very happy to do so. As soon as the Monkey had it in his possession he scampered up a tree and, putting the instrument to his lips, let loose a deafening squall of sounds. After a while the Tapir asked for his flute back, but the Monkey said no, he might as well forget it, the flute was his now. This infuriated the Tapir, who sworp he would kill the Monkey if he ever caught him. The Monkey heard his threat and to save himself from the Tapir’s vengeance, never again came down from the trees.”
Science gives a less fanciful explanation of the monkey’s ways, although it agrees that it lives in the trees as a matter of security. It says the monkey’s vulnerability to the more ferocious ground animals requires it to live above ground, and that its specialized limbs enable it to do so. And its voice, which is developed to a fairly high degree, is not the gift of the tapir, but grows from the need it has to keep in touch with the fellow- members of its tribe, for warning of danger.
For all their monkey-like ways, the marmosets are not considered “true monkeys,” the term reserved for members of the fainily Cebidae. One difference is the tail, which in the marmoset is not prehensile. Another is that the marmoset has claws on all of its digits except its great toe, which has a nail. True monkeys have nails on all their toe-s and fingers.
Marmoset monkey Pictures
