That's not a monkey...

it's two monkeys!!!


Carl Zimmer writes:

Marmoset chimeras. These cute little monkeys pose a serious philosophical quandary. Each individual marmoset is an amalgam of cells from two different marmosets. That's because marmosets are generally conceived as fraternal twins and then trade stem cells like mad. Even eggs and sperm can belong to siblings. It may look as if a male marmoset is fathering baby marmosets, but he may actually just be their uncle. (Here's the paper.)

Isn't this incredible?!? I never suspected such weird things could happen in mammals...