Scientists from the Smithsonian (USA) have discovered a new species of mammal in America that they have named the olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina), and which by its appearance looks like "a cross between a domestic cat and a teddy bear", as described by the own researchers. It is the last scientifically documented member of the Procyonidae family, which also includes raccoons and coatis. Endowed with large eyes and reddish-brown fur, it is also the first carnivore discovered in the West in 35 years, endemic to Colombia and Ecuador, according to the latest edition of Zookeys magazine.
"If there are still carnivores that we were unaware of, what other surprises await us?" said Kristofer Helgen, Curator of Mammals at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and head of the team that made the find.
Helgen and his colleagues found wrongly classified olinguite specimens in museum collections, and decided to organize an expedition to find out if it could still be found in the Andes forests where they originated, at an altitude between 1,500 and 2,700 meters. While looking for them they discovered that it is more active at night, that it eats a lot of fruit, that it rarely descends from the trees and that it has a young at each birth.
"The cloud forests of the Andes are a world unto themselves, filled with species that do not exist anywhere else, many of which are threatened or endangered," Helgen said. "We are hopeful that the olinguito will serve as an ambassador species for the cloud forests of Ecuador and Colombia, to draw everyone's attention to these crucial habitats," he added.
