The Amazing Agility of the World’s Smallest Monkey

An adorable clip from the PBS Nature series Undercover in the Jungle takes a look at the pygmy marmoset aka the world’s smallest monkey. These tiny doll-like creatures perform incredible acrobatic feats amongst the trees of the Amazon basin.

Their needle-sharp fingernails enable them to scamper up and down tree trunks and vines, leaping over 30 times their body length from tree to tree. They can swivel their heads backwards to spot any potential predators.

These tiny primates also know instinctively how to ward off predators with an effective community warning system.

And it seems something has caught the eye of one of the marmosets, prompting a loud warning call… a great black hawk stealthily eyeing them up, a very real threat for one of these snack-sized monkeys. The shrill call lets the hawk know he’s been spotted. And it has the desired effect. His cover has been blown, and he’s lost the element of surprise…