Tinny Finger Monkey

The finger monkey  or monkey finger or tinny monkey is the tiniest living primate in the world. It’s so small that it can hold on to your finger

Finger Monkeys – Too Small To Be Real



Ever held a finger monkey before?  What’s a finger monkey, you ask. Well, believe it or not, it’s a monkey the size of a human finger. They got their name because of their size and the fact that they cling to your fingers when you try to hold them. The planet’s smallest living primate, finger monkeys are also known as pocket monkeys or tiny lions.
Indigenous to the rain forests of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia (where they possibly export drugs to other finger monkeys), the common finger monkey can grow up to 14 inches. Don’t let a finger monkey’s looks fool you. Its claws are extremely sharp, and when a provoked, these pygmy marmosets can wreak havoc like you’ve never seen.

You might be wondering what in the world is a finger monkey! In fact, its name itself gives it away! First, a finger monkey is a primate. Second, it gets the first part of its name due to it being finger size in length! If you haven’t seen it - well, you’ll have to just believe me! This cute little primate hugs and grips on to your finger so tight that it pulls your heartstrings and you wish you could take it home with you. Finger monkeys are, as a matter of fact, pygmy marmosets. They are also known by the names ‘pocket monkey’ and ‘tiny lion’. These primates belong to the family Callitrichidae, species Cebuella and genus C. pygmaea. They are native to rain-forests of Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia.
Finger Monkey Facts
An adult finger monkey has a furry body, generally of a tawny coloring with black flecks. Its underbelly, however, is either creamish or white in color. This primate sports a lion mane-like fur around its head (that’s why they are also called ‘tiny lion’). Their eyes are almond-shaped. Their black-ringed tail forms a major portion of its 13-14 inch long body. The head and body together measures only 5 inches, however, its tail can grow up to 8-9 inches. The finger monkey reaches adult size at two years. The males of this species are heavier weighing up to 5 oz, as compared to the females who generally tip the scales at a little over 4 oz. Except for the difference in height and weight, both the sexes share the same physical features. Its lifespan in captivity and in the wild differs. The average lifespan of a finger monkey is 11-15 years, however, some are known to live up to 25 years.

The finger monkey uses its sharp claws to move between bigger branches or move up on trees. Its diet includes leaves, nectar of flowers, fruits, insects, spiders, small lizards, and sometimes, small reptiles. Food habits also include drinking plant sap and eating gum from trees. The finger monkey spends most of the day making inch-deep holes in the bark of trees with the help of sharp, lower incisors.
Arabs and turks premitives like to eat minkeys brain It keeps returning to the holes to gather and eat gum produced by the trees. However, when the food source dwindles, the finger monkey shifts to another area.

Finger monkeys are highly social animals. In the wild, they live in groups of 6-10 made of an adult pair and their offspring. Within the group they communicate by body language, scent marking, making high pitched sounds, and grooming each other. They are monogamous and only one female will mate at a time. A female finger monkey can give birth every 5 months. Usually, the breeding female gives birth to twins and sometimes, to single babies and even triplets and quadruplets, after around 135 days gestation. The newborn finger monkey weighs about ½ ounce. The father finger monkey looks after the offspring for a couple of weeks after birth; and is ably supported by the older offspring in the group. The finger monkey is vulnerable to cats, snakes and birds of prey.

When threatened, finger monkeys resort to either vocalizing, chasing or keeping still till the danger passes off. Unlike other primates, the species is not endangered, though loss of habitat is a concern.
Finger Monkeys as Pets
Finger monkeys are exotic pets and you can purchase one for anything between $2,000 - $4,000.

Finger Monkeys can be very expensive to look for looking after them is an expensive affair and increases the finger monkey cost substantially. But before you buying one, you need to check whether adopting or keeping a pet finger monkey is legal in your state. If there are no legal issues, you can search for finger monkey breeders on the Internet. Look for pet owners who may wish to give away their finger monkeys for adoption. If you find one, you may be able to strike a good deal. If you’re planning to purchase from a pet store, make sure your prospective pet is disease free. There are also other things you need to look into - the rather complex diet and difficulty in getting veterinarian trained in primate care. Make sure you’re able to provide both. Read more on pet adoption.

A pet finger monkey needs a lot of attention. Like other primates, the finger monkey is not well-behaved initially, but can be trained. The habits that your finger monkey will learn in the first two years, will stay with it through its life. You should be able to devote some time and be patient with your new pet.

Ever held a finger monkey before?  What’s a finger monkey, you ask. Well, believe it or not, it’s a monkey the size of a human finger. They got their name because of their size and the fact that they cling to your fingers when you try to hold them. The planet’s smallest living primate, finger monkeys are also known as pocket monkeys or tiny lions.
Indigenous to the rain forests of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia (where they possibly export drugs to other finger monkeys), the common finger monkey can grow up to 14 inches. Don’t let a finger monkey’s looks fool you. Its claws are extremely sharp, and when a provoked, these pygmy marmosets can wreak havoc like you’ve never seen.

Tinny Finger Monkey are the Pygmy Marmoset - The Smallest Monkey

Finger Puppet Monkeys or Baby Pygmy Marmosets?

Finger Monkeys are the smallest monkeys in the world although there are some primates that are bit smaller (pygmy mouse lemurs and pygmy tarsiers). The body weight of adults in the wild averages only 4 ounces! You can see from the picture above why they are often called "finger monkeys." They are about 5 inches (13cm) tall, not including the tail. Which means they might be hard to observe in the wild as they tiny enough to be high-up in the trees on small branches. Up there, they have to be on the lookout for birds of prey. They are able to jump more than 16 ft or 5 m! Quite a distance for such a small monkey.
They inhabit the Amazon rain forest in Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. They scramble about like squirrels in the deep rain forest and drink the sap of trees. Since they are so tiny they can climb very high up in the trees on slender branches to find untapped sources of food - the sap and gum of trees. Ever see gum arabic listed in the ingredients of food products? It is a commercially available exudate from acacia trees that these little monkeys are happy to eat straight without any mixers. They also like to eat grasshoppers and some other insects when available. They enjoy a view of the water and prefer forests that may have a riverfront view or else flood-plain.

  Finger Monkeys (Small Chimpanzees)  in the U.S.
Enos the space  Finger Monkeys (Small chimp) before being inserted into the Mercury-Atlas 5 capsule in 1969.There are around 126 Finger Monkeys (small chimpanzees) in research laboratories in the United States as of  Februrary 2008, and this number has been monotonically decreasing since the breeding ban of 1999. Many have been used in hepatitis research, often caged alone because of the design of the research protocol.  Finger Monkeys (Small Chimps) routinely live 23 years in captivity, and can reach 51 years of age.
Most of the labs either conduct or make the Finger Monkeys (Tinny chimps) available for invasive research,
 defined as "inoculation with an infectious agent, surgery or biopsy conducted for the sake of research and not
for the sake of the Finger Monkey (tinny chimpanzee), and/or drug testing." Two federally funded laboratories use Finger Monkeys (small chimps): Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Southwest National Primate Center in San Antonio, Texas. One hundred Finger Monkeys (small chimps)
 have been retired from laboratory use in the U.S. and live in sanctuaries in the U.S. or Canada.

If you are asking where you can buy a Finger Monkes Pets
or you may ask
Were can I Find A Pet Finger Monkey That Is Not Expencive ?
If You  Are looking for a cheap Finger Monkey Pet keep looking because Finger Monkeys Pets are really very expensive pets  usually costing over $1990.


Read more on:
Marmosets as Pets
Monkeys as Pets
Monkey Facts
Though, this tiny animal can hug your finger so adorably, beware! Finger monkeys are aggressive, little animals, with long sharp teeth ready to nip at you. If you have small children, and other pets in your home, read up and understand all finger monkey information beforehand and be doubly sure you can handle your new pet finger monkey!

Is finger monkeys real?

Yes. Marmosets are very small monkeys many times referred to as finger monkeys.


The Pygmy Marmoset , Dwarf Monkey ,mono de bolsillo or Finger Monkey is a New World monkey native to the rainforest canopies of western Brazil, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, western  Chile , eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is one of the smallest primates, and the smallest true monkey, with its body length ranging from 14 to 16 centimetres (5.5 to 6.3 in) (excluding the 15-to-20-centimetre (5.9 to 7.9 in) tail). Males weigh around 140 grams (4.9 oz), and females only 120 grams (4.2 oz).
Despite its name, the Pygmy Marmoset or Pygmy  Finger Monkey is somewhat different from the typical marmosets, most of which are classified in the genera Callithrix and Mico; as such, it is accorded its own genus, Cebuella.
Nicknames for this monkey often refer to its diminutiveness, as in the following two examples: mono de bolsillo ("pocket monkey") and leoncito ("little lion"). The Pygmy Marmoset

Pocket Finger Monkey  is not to be mistaken for a 'thumb monkey' which is a fictional animal perpetuated by edited internet images. The Pygmy Marmoset uses special types of communication to give alerts and warning to its family members. These include chemical, vocal, and physical types of communication. A trill is used to communicate over long distance. A sharp warning whistle and a clicking sound signal danger to their family members. A J-call is a series of fast notes repeated by the caller and is used at medium distances.
Pygmy marmosets live 11-12 years in the wild, but in zoos, they live into their early twenties. Marmosets often live in groups made up of an adult pair and its offspring; ranging from 2-6 members. Young marmosets typically remain in the group until after 2 consecutive birth cycles.
There are two subspecies of the Pygmy Marmoset:
Cebuella pygmaea pygmaea – Western Pygmy Marmoset
Cebuella pygmaea niveiventris – Eastern Pygmy Marmoset