Column "School of Young Zoo Correspondent"

Today, young biologists talk about one of their favorite animals – common marmosets.

"These monkeys are just called common marmosets. In fact, they are quite unusual and very interesting. That's why we decided to tell about a group of common marmosets that live in Mykolaiv Zoo. We really like these animals, they are always active and interesting to watch.

The Indians called the common marmosets "uistiti". The muzzle of the common marmosets is very nice. They have lush white "ears" and brown little eyes. These are emotional animals with very developed facial expressions. They communicate with each other in sounds similar to birds chirping. When in danger, the common marmosets scream loudly.

Common marmosets live in trees and very deftly move on them, like a squirrel. Common marmosets eat wood sap, a variety of fruits. And also such small animals catch insects, they can feed on small lizards, bird eggs or even small birds. At the zoo, monkeys are fed a variety of vegetables and fruits (their favorite food is bananas), as well as live food – specially grown insects. Our common marmosets are very fond of different toys, so sometimes we make different "hiding places" for them, where you can put something delicious. Although these monkeys can take food from hands, you cannot touch them.

Common marmosets are very small monkeys. They weigh only 250 grams. They live in stable families, each of which can include from 6 to 30 members, but the most common number of members in such a family is nine.

The oldest monkeys in our group are seven years old. All these common marmosets were born in our zoo. In general on the average 3-4 youngsters are born in common marmosets, but in Mykolaiv Zoo two were born most often. It is interesting that the dad marmoset takes the most active part in raising children." (creative work of young naturalists Myroslava Ivzhenko and Mykyta Kovalenko. Photos of young naturalists Mykyta Golovin and Milada Strushlyak).