We’re listening to the sounds of a monkey whose existence, until recently, was unknown to science. It’s called the Dwarf Marmoset. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.
“Well, the new species of marmoset that we have just discovered– Callithrix Umilous is the scientific name– is about the size of a chipmunk; it’s much smaller than the gray squirrel. And where we found it was in one of the major tributaries of the middle part of the Amazon.”
Russ Mittermeier is President of Conservation International. He tells us that once he received word of the newly discovered primate, he traveled to Brazil to see the animal for himself. Turns out that finding the Dwarf Marmoset was somewhat easier than he had expected.
“I had already arranged with one of my colleagues to get a boat and he had the boat sent out to this remote village in one of the tributaries in the Brazilian Amazon. We chartered a small plane to go out and fly to the nearest place that had an air strip. Got into the boat, traveled about four or five hours upriver and arrived at the small village where we had heard that this monkey species might exist. Landed, walked up the hill to the village and within about thirty seconds, we found this animal which my colleague had only seen once before in the wild: a new species of Marmoset which we had just finished the scientific description of a few weeks ago.”
It’s discoveries like this which make scientists and conservationists wonder what other secrets the rainforest may hold.
Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.