Marsupial Spotlight: Monito Del Monte

With the possums, we learned that not all marsupials originate in Australia. In the case of the monito del monte, we find that this species can only be found in southwestern South America--namely Chile and Argentina. The name monito del monte is actually Spanish for "little bush monkey." This is actually a very good name for them when you learn more about them. They are also sometimes called the colocolo opossum. They have other names too, but they are wholly unpronounceable. For the purposes of this blog, I will be calling them monitoes for the sake of brevity.

The term "little bush monkey" makes sense, and here is why. For one, they are quite tiny. They range in size from 3 to 5 inches. The younger ones can be almost as small as a large snail. [Picture provided.] Secondly, they live almost exclusively in trees. They have prehensile tails and paws which allows them to more easily navigate among the branches, and they do so with skill. There is a monkey-like aspect to how they live. But do they look like monkeys?

The monito actually looks like a fat mouse--a fat mouse with fingers. It is incredibly cute. You might actually mistake it for a rodent, and to be honest, there are a lot of really cool rodents in this area of the world. The monito doesn't look all that different than they do, if you think about it. They remind me a little of the chinchilla; however, they're personalities definitely differ.

Monitoes are omnivores; however, they love insects most of all. They also like fruit, but it seems to take second place to a good, hearty bug. They don't do a lot of food storing though. They make nests out of leaves within their favorite tree. They cover it with moss as a matter of camouflage. It is here they sleep... A LOT!

On the latter point, monitoes seem to have the same sleepy problem that koalas have. They love to sleep and only wake up to find something to eat. When they eat, they go at it hard and then go right back to sleep. It seems to be their favorite thing to do really. The exception to this rule is when there is abundance of food and a friendly temperature in the region. In this case, they wake right up and have a holiday consisting of eating, eating, and also eating.

Reproduction-wise: there are some unusual aspects worth mentioning. Apparently, the monito females are larger than the males. They are very monogamous when they mate, and can have from 3 to 5 offspring; however, here lies the problem. The mother can only take care of four of the children at a time, so when there are five offspring, she has to shew one of them away. Sadly, the odd one out will inevitably die. The young will remain in the mother's pouch for five months and then they will remain associated with their parents forever. Interestingly, both males and females of the marsupial reach sexual maturity after 2 years--which is rather long for a small animal.

You know, the big thing that stood out for the monito when I was thinking about fiction was their reproductive habits. They seem positively Amish. They are patient, quiet folk who court each other and remain with the family after marriage. It's all about family! Just imagine an Amish family living in tree-houses. The only problem is the mother--being very picky--doesn't want to take care of more than 4 children. Maybe, there is a chinchilla family who could raise him instead.

I think the monitoes are cute and mousy. Anybody who knows me well is very aware about how crazy I am for rodents. Here is another reason why I also like marsupials--because of creatures like this! More to come!

Thank you for reading this blog! If you enjoyed it, you can comment below, or you can email me at tooie@tooiekangaroo.com. "Living in an Amish paradise!"