Grass marmoset (SciiFii)

The grass marmoset (Microcebuella graminis) is a species of New World monkey, most closely related to the marmosets, that originally did not exist, but has since been created by SciiFii and introduced throughout the open woodlands, grasslands, shrublands, and scrublands of Patagonia, Paraguay, and Bolivia to help boost biodiversity. The grass marmoset ranges from 55 to 75 mm (2.2 to 3.0 inches) long, and its tail from 50 to 75 mm (2.0 to 3.0 inches) long; it weighs from 4 to 11 grams (0.14 to 0.39 oz), or about half the weight of the house mouse (Mus musculus), making it, not only the smallest New World monkey, but also the world's smallest primate. Its eyes are relatively large for its body size, although its ears are average to its size. It has large nostrils and a thick, soft fur, somewhat thicker in winter than in summer. The fur is pale-green in color with yellowish stripes on its tail, back, and limbs, while its hairless hands, feet, and face are a deep orange in color. The grass marmoset has a prehensile tail and broad feet, which are adapted specifically for climbing, with an opposable, large outermost toe, allowing it to grip stems with each hindfoot and its tail, thus freeing the monkey's hands for food collection. Its tail is also used for balance. It eats chiefly seeds, fruits, nectar, and insects, but also frogs and eggs. The grass marmosets have a short lactation period of 15-16 days. They spend most of their life in long grass and other native and nonnative vegetation such as reedbeds, rushes, ditches, cereals, legumes, and pampas grass. They are very skilled at climbing among grasses due to their tail. They grasp leaves and stems with their hind feet and tail, which leaves their hands free for other tasks. These tasks can include grooming and feeding. Grass marmosets' prehensile tail functions as an extra limb during climbing. Like the Micromys rodents, including the Eurasian harvest mouse, the grass marmoset builds breeding nests for their young. Breeding nests are spherical constructions carefully woven from grass and attached to stems well above the ground. During the lactation period, the infants are able to climb a vertical bar by the time they first emerge from their nest. At 3-7 days they learn hand grasping, and at 6-9 days they learn food grasping. Between 6-11 days, they adopt a quadrupedal stance, and at 10-11 there is tail prehension, and righting at 10-12 days. The righting response in grass marmosets develops earlier, but takes longer to master than the other skills the infants learn. They cannot climb horizontally by the time they are weaned, suggesting that horizontal climbing is not as essential as vertical climbing. The conservation status of the grass marmoset is Least Concern due to successful conservation efforts, the grass marmoset's wide range and its tolerance to many of the human activities.