Kinkajou

Potos flavus

Classification:

Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Procyonidae

DESCRIPTION:     The kinkajou is a small animal with short, soft honey gold or brown fur.  It has a round head with small round ears, a cat like face and very prominent eyes.  It's long stretchable tongue is used for getting nectar.  The kinkajou has a fully prehensile tail that is used as support when climbing or resting.  To aid in climbing, they can rotate their feet backwards so that they can hang from tree branches. The toes are joined by a membrane that extends a third of the way down each toe.  It has scent glands on the face, throat and belly.  The length of the head and body is 16-22 inches.  The tail is the same length.  They can weigh up to 4-10 pounds.  The Kinkajou uses a small peep for close communication and a shrill scream for far away communication

HABITAT:  Kinkajous are native to the lowland rain forests of Southern Mexico, Central America and parts of South America.  They are nocturnal. During the day and they sleep in tree hollows, or  leaves and trees to avoid all contact with sunlight.  They are also arboreal and stay in the forest canopy and very seldom come down.

DIET:     The diet mainly consists of fruit and nectar.  It turns upside down, on its side or on its back so it will not lose any of the fruit juice.  Although they do eat bees, honey, blossoms and other small insects they have also have been known to eat small animals such as tree-living frogs, nesting birds and their eggs.  One important role they play in the rain forests is that they are a pollinator.  When the Kinkajou  reaches for nectar with its tongue, which can extend up to 5 inches long, its face gets covered with pollen which is then spread to other plants. 

REPRODUCTION:    The Kinkajou is a solitary animal, avoiding contact with other Kinkajous unless mating.  Each Kinkajou has its own territory that it scent marks.  They come together only to mate and after a gestation of  112-118 days the females gives birth to one (sometimes two) cub.  The cub is born in a dark den with their eyes and ears closed.  Their eyes open within 2 to 6 weeks, and in another 3 to 6 weeks their tails become prehensile.  The Kinkajou mother is very protective of her cub.  During times of danger she will carry the infant upside down just below her chest. The mother carries the young for almost 4 months, at which  time the young are almost independent.

PREDATORS:  Predators of the kinkajou include foxes, tayras, jaguars, and ocelots.

STATUS IN THE WILD:   Kinkajou numbers are falling rapidly as a result of deforestation and fur hunting.