Ron Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Olinguito (oh-lihn-GEE'-toe) Imagine a mini-raccoon with a teddy bear face that is so cute it's hard to resist, let alone overlook. But somehow science did — until now. Researchers announced Thursday a rare discovery of a new species of mammal called the olinguito. The reddish-brown animal is about 14-inches long with an equally long tail and weighs about 2 pounds. It belongs to a grouping of large creatures that include dogs, cats and bears. The critter leaps through the trees of mountainous forests of Ecuador and Colombia at night, according to a Smithsonian researcher who has spent the past decade tracking them. But the adorable olinguito (oh-lihn-GEE'-toe) shouldn't have been so hard to find. One of them once lived in the Smithsonian-run National Zoo in Washington for a year in a case of mistaken identity. "It's been kind of hiding in plain sight for a long time" despite its extraordinary beauty, said Kristofer Helgen, the Smithsonian's curator of mammals. The little zoo critter, named Ringerl, was mistaken for a sister species, the olingo. Before she died in 1976, Ringerl was shipped from zoo to zoo in Louisville, Ky., Tucson, Ariz., Salt Lake City, Washington and New York City to try to get it to breed with other olingos. View gallery."This undated handout photo provided by Mark Gurney … This undated handout photo provided by Mark Gurney shows a olinguito. Imagine a raccoon with a teddy … She wouldn't. "It turns out she wasn't fussy," Helgen said. "She wasn't the right species." The discovery is described in a study in the journal ZooKey. Helgen first figured olinguitos were different from olingos when he was looking at pelts and skeletons in a museum. He later led a team to South America in 2006. "When we went to the field we found it in the very first night," said study co-author Roland Kays of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. "It was almost like it was waiting for us." It's hard to figure how olingos and onlinguitos were confused for each other. "How is it different? In almost every way that you can look at it," Helgen said. Watch: Chinese researchers work to save pandasPlay video."Watch: Chinese researchers work to save pandas Olinguitos are smaller, have shorter tails, a rounder face, tinier ears and darker bushier fur, he said. "It looks kind of like a fuzzball ... kind of like a cross between a teddy bear and a house cat," Helgen said. It eats fruit and has one baby at a time. Helgen figures there are thousands of olinguitos in the mountainous forest, traveling through the trees at night which makes them hard to see. While new species are found regularly, usually they are tiny things like insects and not mammals, the warm-blooded advanced class of animals that have hair, live births and mammary glands in females. Outside experts said this discovery is not merely renaming something, but a genuine new species — with three new subspecies. It's the type of significant find that hasn't happened in the Americas for about 35 years. "Most people believe there are no new species to discover, particularly of relatively large charismatic animals," said Case Western Reserve University anatomy professor Darin Croft. "This study demonstrates that this is clearly not the case." The olinguito is the smallest member of the raccoon family of mammals. Sumatran tiger cubs born at the National ZooPlay video."Sumatran tiger cubs born at the National Zoo The researchers only saw olinguitos in Ecuador and Colombia, but they said they could also be living in parts of Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, and Guyana, based on their cloud forest habitat. The olingo is also native to Central and South America. The North Carolina museum is already selling olinguito stuffed animals for about $15. Proceeds will benefit habitat preservation for the creatures 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Aw, it's so cute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
President Squidward Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Cute lil' animal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OWM Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMM Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Adorable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amphibia Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 how cute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 very cute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicNickelodeon Fan 1 Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Aw, that's so cute! <3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crushingmayhem Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Great article. Looks like a cat/squirrel hybrid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elastic Dawg Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I WANT ONE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
So Sejima Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 cutie whatever its called Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Someone Posted September 1, 2013 Share Posted September 1, 2013 Aaaawwwww! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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