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Birdorable "Hardly any wetland bird is more easily identified than the Roseate Spoonbill"

This article contains information relating to a former cryptid. Former cryptids are either cryptids proven to exist, or those that are no longer considered cryptids.

Scientific Classification
Goeldi

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Primates

Family

Callitrichidae

Genus

Callimico

Species

C. goeldii

Goeldi's marmoset or Goeldi's monkey (Callimico goeldii) is a small, South American New World monkey that lives in the upper Amazon Basin region of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is the only species classified in the genus Callimico, and the monkeys are sometimes referred to as "callimicos".

Goeldi's marmosets are blackish or blackish-brown in color and the hair on their head and tail sometimes has red, white, or silvery brown highlights. Their bodies are about 20 to 23 cm (8 to 9 inches) long, and their tails are about 25 to 30 cm (10 to 12 inches) long.

The Legend and Discovery[]

G marmo

Relative to other monkeys, they show some apparently primitive features: they have claws rather than nails.

A strange humanoid creature was commonly spoken of within the tribes of the jungles of the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon.

This creature, known as the Chullachaqui, was said to be a short beastly man with backwards spiked feet, that was as dark as the night and lived deep within the jungle.

It was said to persuade its victims to follow it deep into the jungle where even experienced trackers could not find their way back. It did this by disguising itself as a prey animal. Its uncanny ability to imitate other animals makes it impossible to tell apart, except for its odd feet.

The Chullachaqui is a kind of a forest spirit who guards the lands and the animals and punishes a man if he breaks a taboo or otherwise acts unwisely in the forest. According to a local legend, the Chullachaqui is a member of an older species, a species that lived there long before humans. Most of the time they remain quite uninterested in humans. They inhabit forest spots far from human habitation where they supposedly have their own gardens and fields to tend.

When Spanish missionaries were first told of the creature by Quechuan tribesmen, they dismissed it as tribal superstition. It was not until 1904 when a bizarre primate was discovered that matched the descriptions of the Chullachaqui. The discoverer, Emil August Goeldi, was surprised to find a primate quite different from other monkeys, a monkey that had claws rather than nails.

Additional Facts[]

Callimico goeldii distribution

Goeldi's monkey distribution

At 8.5 months, the females become sexually mature while the males mature sexually at the age of 16.5 months. After 140-180 days the young are born. The female is capable of giving birth twice a year. Unlike other species of this family, the mother bears only one baby at a time. The mother takes care of the baby for the initial 2-3 weeks and then the father takes responsibility for the baby except for satisfying its nursing requirements. The mother feeds the baby only until it is 65 days old. The ratio of female to male is 2 to 1 and they can live for up to 10 years in captivity.

The Goeldi's monkey was discovered in 1904 by Emil Goeldi.

Gallery[]

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