First thing’s first – This is not a baby monkey.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, say hello to Geoffroy’s Marmoset! These tiny monkeys are full size at less than eight inches head to base-of-tail, and weigh less than three quarters of a pound. That’s smaller than a bottle of water! The marmoset is a type of New World Monkey, meaning they come from the Americas. Geoffroy’s Marmoset specifically comes from the rainforests of Brazil.



Brookfield Zoo is home to a pair of Geoffroy’s Marmosets who live together at Tropic World. Sebastian is a 6-year-old male and Ava is an 8-year-old female. Their favorite foods are grapes, bananas, and worms, which matches the wild diet of Geoffrey’s Marmosets - fruits, flowers, invertebrates, and small vertebrates like lizards, rodents and birds.



Geoffrey’s Marmosets have some really unique physical and behavioral adaptations. For example, a part of their diet is also made up of tree saps, gums, and resins. Therefore, their teeth are specially designed to be able to chew through tree bark. And since they typically give birth to twins, the males help out a lot with childcare, carrying one or both infants on his back.

Stop by Tropic World South America and catch a glimpse of these tiny yet full-grown, fascinating monkeys!