Scientific
classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Procyonidae Genus: Potos

A vegetarian
in the middle of meateaters!
Kinkajou doen't eat
meat, but its teeth
make it part of
carnivora order.

Kinkajou eats fruits, sometimes leaves
and also pollen,
using its very long tongue.

Late in the 18ème century, a parisian zoo was very proud to exhibit an american animal that even big specialists haven't heard from.
As you may have guessed, it was a kinkajou. Zoologists didn't know what to think of it. For some, it was a Lemurian, others put it among the Viverridé. It was called « mexican weasel». In Fench Guiana, the kinkajou is still frequently called "night monkey". Truth is this mammal has nothing to do with Lemurians, Viverrides or Primat. Nowadays, the Kinkajou is officially classified as a Procyonide.

Illustration of a kinkajou (Potos flavus) from the Dictionnaire Universel
d'Histoire Naturelle by Alcide d'Orbigny, published in 1849.

A grown up kinkajou can be 95 cm long, the tail measuring about half of it.
Its shoulder height is about 20 cm et it weights an everage of 2.5 to 3 kg.

Arboreal, the kinkajou spend its life among trees of untouched tropical forests, sleeping in their trunk during the day and wandering for food at night.

Kinkajou climbs trees with great agility, using its long prehensile tail and the sharp, curved claws of its short paws.

After a gestation of 112 to 118 days, the female kinkajou gives birth in the trunk of a tree to one or, rarely, two offsprings.
The closed eyes of the newborn will open after 7 days, sometines 10 and even 14, following observations of different writers. Baby kinkajou drink maternal milk during 16 to 18 weeks but gets its first taste of solid food at 7 weeks .
After 3 to 4 weeks spent in a trunk, baby kinkajou starts feeling like discovering the outside. 3 to 4 weeks later, it will be able to use its prehensible tail.
Kinkajou is mature at the age of 18 months.

The kinkajou is a useful animal playing a significant role in seeds dispersal.

The Kinkajou is a protected species in French Guiana.