What is the smallest known primate in the world today?

Question

What is the smallest known primate in the world today?

Answer 1

Illustration by Kim Reed-Deemer, Northern Illinois University

Dr. Beard's team of American and Chinese scientists also discovered the fossils of the world's smallest known primate species. Many of the fossils are one-third the size of Madagascar's mouse lemur, which at one ounce is the smallest living primate. These fossils may help scientists understand further the evolutionary family tree of primates, a group characterized by larger brains, grasping hands and feet, nails instead of claws, and eyes located in the front of the skull.

The tiny fossil primates also belong to a branch of primate evolution that eventually leads to humans. This surprising discovery shows that the earliest common ancestors of monkeys, apes, and humans were smaller than any living primate, and would have been the size of a living shrew. The tiny creatures were most likely tree dwellers that relied on a steady diet of insects and nectar. They were probably nocturnal, solitary creature

Answer 2

Madagascar mouse lemur?

Answer 3

Did you realize the name lemur comes from the Latin "lemures" meaning spirits of the dead ... because of their "spectre-like" faces? Do you find their sweet little faces "spectre-like"? (That's two questions I've snuck in.) My answer: I don't know.