Category: Mammals
Pygmy marmosets (Cebuella pygmaea), also known as pocket monkeys or finger monkeys, are native to South America. They grow to a length of about 6” including their tails. The thought of having a tiny monkey as pet might be appealing, but all monkeys are demanding pets, and pocket monkeys, like many other larger monkeys, can grow to be aggressive or hard to control as they get older (and depending on where you live, they may also be illegal, as well). The average life span of the pocket monkey in the wild is 11-12 years; in captivity it can get closer to 20 years. In the wild, these little 3-5 oz. 6” monkeys spend most of their time in trees and can leap about 5 meters (over 16 feet) from tree to tree. They also can leap into the next room from the perch on your finger, or right out the window. To get an idea of what his means, if you are 5’ 9” tall and if you could leap like a pocket monkey, you could jump 2,300 feet. At a track meet, you’d jump out of the stadium!
The Opossum Ain’t Playing
Many people associate playing dead with the opossum - that’s where the term “playing opossum” comes from, after all. But something you might not know is that when an opossum feigns death, it really goes all out! Not content with merely closing its eyes and laying down, the opossum begins drooling profusely as if ill or even rabid, releases a putrid, greenish fluid from its anal glands that makes it smell like a decaying corpse, and after losing consciousness may even mimic rigor mortis! This is quite the elaborate routine, but it isn’t conscious: when an opossum plays dead, it has actually gone into shock due to stress.
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