This is the cutest animal on the internets! A marmoset is a small monkey. But I had no idea they were so small!

Ah, these are pygmy marmosets, the smallest monkeys in the world. The photo of a monkey clinging to a finger is from the Everland Zoo and Theme Park in South Korea, which had a safari theme park in the 1970s.

The Lakes Aquarium, near Newby in the U.K., has baby twin marmosets. The babies spend most of their time riding on their father’s back. The father hands them over to their mother for nursing.

St. Tiggywinkles

I’ve just discovered a new saint: St. Tiggywinkles Animal Hospital in England. It’s an animal hospital for wild animals and treats them free of charge. The hospital relies on donations and, I suspect, sales of animal photographs to keep going. It helps some of the millions of animals that are injured by cars, poisons, and the built environment every year.

Our veterinary team has pioneered much of the treatment now used for wildlife throughout the country. Our expertise and knowledge on all species is used worldwide. Over the years we have perfected techniques for hedgehogs, badgers, deer and other species and have a commitment to passing on this information through books, papers, courses and lectures to veterinary schools.

The experiences of our Hospital staff are helping many of the millions of casualties across the world, most of which are now being looked after thanks to the positive attitude of Tiggywinkles. Tiggywinkles survives on a solid base of membership and relies on donations from the general public and sponsors to thrive. It receives no state funding of any kind and no financial assistance from conservation groups.

“Tiggywinkle” is a nickname for a hedgehog.

There are domesticated hedgehogs, as well.

Dr. Marc van Roosmalen is trying to protect this new species of black, woolly monkey and other new species in the Amazon jungle.

Cutest monkey ever

Donations will help to fund his research and protect the habitat for these animals. If he gets $31,000, he promises to name it the Blog Monkey — Lagothrix blogii.

Hat tip to PZ Myers at Pharyngula: “Blog Monkey.”

LotStreetWiz saw a small rodent running across his path while out on one of his runs. It had a short tail and looked greyish. It seemed to have a tubular body rather than a mouse-like hump. We’re not sure what it was. Perhaps one of these:

rodents of New York

I found a blog called Paleomammals online, which got off to a promising start but hasn’t any new articles since May. But it did have links! One of them was to the scientific paleomammal and anthropology art of Mauricio Anton. The home page is in Flash but there are, at least, galleries underneath.