Kinkajou ()

The Kinkajou

This small animal is part of the same family as raccoons and red pandas but actually looks and acts more like a monkey.  It is also known as the honeybear because of the color of his soft light brown fur.  His natural habitat is wet and dry rain forests from Mexico to Brazil but can be found in zoos and as pets all over the world .  It usually spends most of it's time in tops of trees and is very agile at jumping from one tree top to another.  It has a body length between 41 and 57 centimeters, (16 to 22 inches), with a long tail practically as long as its body.  Its tail can be used to hang onto branches but unlike monkeys it can't be used to pick up food.  The Kinkajou weighs typically between 2 and 5 kilograms, (4 to 10 pounds).  

Its diet consists of nectar, fruits, flowers and sometimes insects and small frogs that he eats with the aid of his sharp teeth.  Since the Kinkajou is nocturnal it sleeps during the day covering his eyes with his paws and comes out at night to feed.

The kinkajou mates all year and the gestation period lasts around 115 days.  They give birth to two or more often one cubs.  Their life expectancy is 20 to 25 years in captivity but the longest living kinkajou lived in the Honolulu zoo until the age of 40. 

They are not an endangered species and are sometimes hunted for their fur and meat.  Many people keep them as pets because they have a playful personality but there have been some cases where they became vicious for no apparent reason.  We have to keep in mind that they are a wild animal after all.

Further Information on the Kinkajou:

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkajou
http://www.honoluluzoo.org/kinkajou.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/k1/kinkajou.asp
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/rarespecies/p/kinkajou.htm
http://animal.discovery.com/guides/mammals/habitat/tropforest/kinkajou.html