{"id":717568,"date":"2026-07-29T16:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T16:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/717568\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T16:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T16:37:10","slug":"worlds-smallest-monkeys-welcome-finger-sized-twins-in-devon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/717568\/","title":{"rendered":"World\u2019s smallest monkeys welcome finger-sized twins in Devon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two finger-sized Eastern pygmy marmosets, the smallest monkey species in the world, have been born at a wildlife trust in South Devon.<\/p>\n

The twins were born at Shaldon Wildlife Trust on July 9 and each weighed roughly the same as a single ping-pong ball.<\/p>\n

Born to parents Pablo and Tumble, the double arrival marks the first time the wildlife trust has successfully bred Pygmy Marmosets in 11 years.<\/p>\n

Zak Showell, Director at Shaldon Wildlife Trust, said: “We are absolutely over the moon. To have our first Eastern Pygmy Marmoset births since 2015 is a huge milestone for our team, but to see how quickly Pablo and Tumble bonded makes it even more special.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The pygmy marmoset babies(Image: Philippa Dobbs)<\/p>\n

“At 19 days old, the twins are doing fantastically well. Dads do most of the heavy lifting in marmoset families, and Pablo is an experienced dad, having had several babies at his previous zoo. Visitors this summer will need a keen eye, but if you look closely at Pablo\u2019s back, you\u2019ll see two tiny furry faces peeking out over his shoulders.”<\/p>\n

Pablo arrived at the zoo from Shepreth Wildlife Park in June 2025 and Tumble joined him from Dudley Zoo in January 2026.<\/p>\n

The pair welcomed twins six months after meeting.<\/p>\n

Native to the rainforests of the western Amazon Basin, Eastern Pygmy Marmosets, are famous for their miniature size, reaching just 12 to 15 centimetres in length as adults.<\/p>\n

Classed as vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN Red List, wild populations face growing threats from habitat loss and the illegal pet trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two finger-sized Eastern pygmy marmosets, the smallest monkey species in the world, have been born at a wildlife…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,154748,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-717568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-south-devon","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}