There are no wonders in the world, no one can't see it, only people can't think of it.
There is a monkey, whose size is only the size of a human finger, will be eaten by birds, but now faces an endangered situation.
Really like creatures of the wizarding world
Species characteristics
Pygmy marmosets, mainly distributed in South America, live mostly in the upper reaches of the Amazon River.
Adult pygmy marmosets are only about 13 centimeters tall and weigh between 140 and 160 grams, which is the size of a finger in an adult human.
Many insects living in primary forests are much larger than adult pygmy marmosets, not to mention pygmy marmoset cubs, whose cubs are about 3 centimeters, equivalent to half a small middle finger.
A mother of monkeys carrying cubs on her back
The hair of the pygmy marmoset is denser and softer than that of ordinary monkeys, and the hair of most species is light black, like a small clump of finches.
In Sweden, there are residents who have kept two pygmy marmosets in their homes, and considering the pet nature of the pygmy marmoset, the length of both pygmy marmosets is not more than five centimeters.
The small and cute pygmy marmoset plays at the fingertips of the owner and can even climb to the index finger, and the owner has the ability to easily lift the monkey.
It's really small
Pygmy marmosets like to eat lice, but also eat some small insects, such as ants, frogs, sometimes with their own dexterity, but also go to the tree to dig bird eggs to eat.
When idle, pygmy marmosets also eat some nuts and are omnivores like humans.
The oil content of nuts is extremely high, and it is not advisable to eat more
For pygmy marmosets, birds are their natural enemies, because the dwarf size of pygmy marmosets can cause many birds to mistake them for insects and prey on them.
Many birds have found that when preying on pygmy marmosets, such little guys can bring more protein than other insects, and over time, birds prefer to catch pygmy marmosets.
Pygmy marmosets live in trees all year round, and like squirrels, they sleep on treetops or in tree holes.
They operate in the form of a family, the number of about 3 to 12, belong to the social animals, many pygmy marmosets have a special "alarm", when there are birds attacking, the pygmy marmoset monkey in charge of the inspection will notify everyone, quickly hide in the tree hole.
Pygmy marmosets are highly alert
They will patiently wait in the cave for the birds to go away, and for a long time after the birds have left, the pygmy marmoset will come out of the tree hole and let the inspector pygmy marmoset patrol around to see if the crisis is over.
The world's smallest pygmy marmoset is distributed in Brazil and is called the black-headed pygmy marmoset, which is only 10 centimeters long.
They were found in a narrow area between two rivers, and everyone present thought it amazing that pygmy marmosets could grow so small.
So someone grabbed it and sent it to the laboratory, and the scientists immediately analyzed the DNA, judging that the pygmy marmoset belonged to a new species of marmoset and named it the black-headed pygmy marmoset.
It's like not taking a shower for a long time
It was such a dexterous small monkey that it was once on the verge of extinction.
Rainforest destruction
With the sharp decline in the number of pygmy marmosets, today's pygmy marmosets have been included in the ranks of wild protected animals and belong to the national second-level protected animals.
In the dangerous rainforest, pygmy marmosets rely on their size to survive well, and since humans have stepped in, the life of pygmy marmosets has changed.
First of all, the habitat of the pygmy marmoset has been cut down, the destruction of rainforests in South America has become common, and a large number of trees have been used in human society.
The rainforest situation is worrying
According to statistics, the area of rainforest destroyed by Brazil in a year is equivalent to the size of 1.85 million football fields, and this data has not declined much in the slogan of advocating environmental protection.
Large amounts of rainforest were destroyed, land was used for industrial as well as urban land, and pygmy marmosets lost their homes and had to migrate elsewhere to survive.
The small pygmy marmoset does not have any advantage over the competition for being mammals.
They have become accustomed to the upper reaches of the Amazon River, after moving into new areas, it is difficult to adapt to the environment, in the face of nature's cruel law of "natural selection, survival of the fittest", a large number of pygmy marmosets face an existential crisis.
Rescued little monkeys
Market buying and selling
On the other hand, the problem is the large-scale arrest of pygmy marmosets by humans, and the price of a pygmy marmoset on the international black market is around 8,000 euros, which is equivalent to 50,000 yuan.
Because pygmy marmosets are social animals, hunters are almost always a litter, and the income brought by a litter of pygmy marmosets is about 400,000 yuan, and more can reach 600,000 yuan.
Such a high-yielding species has made many poachers red-eyed, and even at the risk of being arrested, they have to go deep into the rainforest.
It should be known that the cost of the hunter to catch the pygmy marmoset is not high, just to find out the location of the pygmy marmoset, and do not need much professional skills and equipment.
Pygmy marmoset monkey eating
Of course, with the reduction of the number of pygmy marmosets, illegal hunters have considered starting to change careers, after all, sometimes looking in the rainforest for a month, and there is no shadow of pygmy marmosets.
But as long as there are rich people in the market who are willing to spend expensive prices to buy pygmy marmosets, there is a market, there must be someone to sell, illegal hunting will only decrease, will not stop.
climatic change
Climate change and rising pollution problems have led to environments in many rainforests that are not suitable for pygmy marmosets to survive.
Global warming has the greatest impact on pygmy marmosets.
nature
As greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase, extreme weather is also frequent around the world, such as the highest temperature in the Arctic region once reached 38 °C.
A journalist told cameras that the Arctic was hot enough to wear short sleeves.
Much of China has been affected by global warming, with temperatures gradually hitting record highs everywhere in the summer of 2022.
South America, which is near the equator, is already hot enough, and coupled with the impact of global warming, its temperature is naturally soaring.
South America
Pygmy marmosets, which have become accustomed to high temperatures, also have to "temporarily avoid the front" during the day, and only in the early morning or evening do they have the opportunity to come out to forage.
At night, pygmy marmosets have poor eyesight and are unable to forage, and in hot weather, the foraging time of pygmy marmosets is being drastically reduced.
Perhaps in the future, pygmy marmosets will be able to evolve the ability to forage at night in order to adapt to changes in the environment, but this will take a long time.
And with climate change, the light and rain in the rainforest becomes disordered, which makes the plants that inhabit all the creatures in it uncomfortable.
Overlooking the rainforest
In particular, some of these plants cannot be adequately supplied when they need water, resulting in death, which may affect the entire ecological circle.
It's like the "butterfly effect", the ecological circles are interlocked, and if a certain plant is greatly reduced, the number of insects and other animals that feed on this plant will also decrease.
Plants in the rainforest
The ensuing number of animals further up the food chain also began to decrease, eventually leading to the destruction of the ecosystem.
It can be seen that the impact of climate disorders cannot be ignored.
Data suggest that the Amazon rainforest has become one of the main emitters of carbon dioxide, and the Amazon rainforest in Brazil emits more than three times as much carbon dioxide as New York.
How can green plants that originally absorb carbon dioxide become carbon dioxide emission sites?
It all starts with humans, which originally harbored a lot of carbon in the Amazon rainforest, and after humans cut down trees, carbon rose into the air and became part of the greenhouse gas.
The Earth's temperature is rising rapidly
And the annual human-caused fires in the Amazon rainforest are also accelerating the global spike in dioxide levels.
More critically, human beings litter, wantonly discharge pollutants, pollute the original rainforest, trees can not extract nutrients from garbage, and the conversion rate of carbon dioxide is naturally low.
Rising carbon dioxide concentrations are also an important reason for the endangerment of pygmy marmosets.
The endangerment of species will eventually be reflected in humans themselves, so human beings really have to introspect themselves, and protecting animals is to protect the future of human beings.