12 interesting Kinkajou facts
- The kinkajou, also known as the honey bear (a name it shares with the sun bear), is a rainforest mammal of the family Procyonidae related to the olingo, ringtail, cacomistle, raccoon, and coati.
- The kinkajou's woolly fur consists of an outer coat of gold (or brownish-gray) overlapping a gray undercoat. It has large eyes and small ears. It also has short legs with five toes on each foot and sharp claws.
- Kinkajou has a 7-inch long tongue, which it uses to get deep into tropical flowers and consume the nectar.
- An average adult kinkajou weighs 2–3 kg (4–7 lb). Average adult body length is 40–60 cm (16–24 in); in addition to body length, average tail length is 40–55 cm (16–22 in).
- The mammal lives mainly in the canopy in the wild and hardly touches the ground.
- Kinkajou serves as a pollinator of certain trees and flowers in the rain forest, by depositing the pollen that sticks to its fur, in other places.
- Since it is a nocturnal animal, it hates being kept awake during the day, dislikes noises and sudden movements.
- Kinkajou is also known as honey bear, as it invades the nest of honeybee and uses its long tongues to eat honey from the hive. It also removes insects like termites from their hives.
- The mammal can turn its feet backward, so it can easily run along branches in either direction or even up and down tree trunks.
- Kinkajou is a solitary animal that prefers traveling alone and would only come out of the den at night.
- The vocalizations of the mammal involve chirping or whistling, soft huffing, barking noise (like that of a yelping dog), and loud piercing scream (a feeding call in captivity).
- The mother kinkajou is very protective of its baby and carries the young one on her belly.
