Navigation Menu+

Common Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

Posted on Sep 18, 2011 by in Primates | 5 comments

Callithrix jacchus

 

Common marmoset by Coco, age 12

Number 0384

Like many people, some of us Kinyaks are addicted to Angry Birds. The last edition we played, Angry Birds Rio, is a tie-in with the animated movie Rio, which I haven’t seen and don’t plan to, but I assume the characters in the game come from the movie. While the original Angry Birds game has pigs as the birds’ enemies, in Rio, your enemies are marmosets, and after flinging little birds at them, I decided to draw one.

The common marmoset is also known as the white-tufted-ear marmoset. It’s endemic to the forests of eastern Brazil. I’ve just learned a new biology word, and you probably know that learning new biology words is one of my favorite parts of the Daily Mammal. The common marmoset is both an exudativore and an insectivore. That second one is obvious (it eats bugs). The first was new to me. Exudativores make tree sap, resin, and gums a major part of their diet. Common marmosets gnaw into the bark of a tree and then scoop out the sap or what have you with their teeth. About 70 percent of their food-finding time is spent on tree saps and the rest on insects.

5 Comments

  1. ALL RIGHT! The Daily Mammal is BACK!

    Beautiful drawings, Jennifer and Coco! Ain’t NOTHIN’ common about YOUR marmosets!

  2. So glad to see a daily mammal post. Great drawings!

  3. Very interesting info. I love the drawings!

  4. Nice drawings, Jen and Coco!

  5. Thank you, everyone, less than two years late. I didn’t realize I had fallen down on the comments so badly. I actually try to respond to them, but there was a while there when I wasn’t. I apologize.

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.