Don't let this peaceful, adorable picture fool you - these little monkeys were crazy! Wednesday I went on the road with the Totally Wild crew, who was shooting a story I'd written on marmosets. These photogenic primates are the smallest monkeys in the world, growing about seven inches long, and they certainly are cute. Until you're in their cage, that is!
When we arrived and got into the marmoset enclosure, the monkeys were thrilled. The four adults rocketed around the enclosure like ping-pong balls, paying no attention to the two-week-old infants grasping their backs. The Marmosets leapt from the camera, to the sound-equipment, taking frequent breaks to land on our heads or bite our ears.
Once their curiosity was satisfied, they settled down a bit, and we were able to shoot the story. The man who owns the monkeys, who has a small back-yard zoo, had ordered four male marmosets a year ago. Lo and behold, two weeks ago he walked out to find two infants in the enclosure! The babies were adorable - they were no bigger than my pinky, and were just old enough to hold their heads up and look charming from their parents' backs. The adult marmosets were also cute, but for the most part they were too flighty to really interact with.
Overall it was a great day. All I could think was that the people I was with got paid to do stories like this all the time! Needless to say, a career as a television producer is looking pretty appealing - as long as there are no snake stories.
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