What’s better than discovering a rare, furry carnivore that resembles a teddy bear? Stumbling upon a baby version of the same creature. baby olinguito picture

What’s better than discovering a rare, furry carnivore that resembles a teddy bear? Stumbling upon a baby version of the same creature. baby olinguito picture

Posted by Sylvester on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 0

Sponsored Advertisement?

Scientists trekking deep in Colombia‘s La Mesenia Reserve Forest recently spotted a young olinguito, a mammal that was just confirmed as a new species in August. Scientists say it is the first new carnivore found in the Western Hemisphere in more than three decades.

The newfound baby olinguito, discovered by members of the conservation group SavingSpecies, is about the size of a kitten, so small that it can be grasped in one hand. Photographs of the young creature reveal tiny, curved claws that are useful for climbing trees and textured foot pads that help it grip branches.

While only recently designated as a new species, olinguitos have been hiding in plain sight for a long time. Specimens of the orange-brown creature have been housed in museums for more than a century, mistakenly identified as members of a related group of tree-dwelling mammals known as olingos. (Also see “New Carnivore Revealed: Photos of the Olinguito and Its Kin.”)

An olinguito misidentified as an olingo even lived in U.S. zoos in the 1960s and 1970s, moving frequently because—not surprisingly—the animal wouldn’t breed with olingos, said Kristofer Helgen, a curator of mammals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and a National Geographic emerging explorer.