What Are Kinkajous?
Kinkajous are New World animals, found in Central America and South America from southern Mexico to southern Brazil. Kinkajous are also known as “honey bears,” for their cute, rounded ears and facial features (and for their affinity for sweet honey from beehives). These adorable creatures have tawny-colored coats and prehensile tails. They use their tails as a fifth limb, similar to monkeys, and use them to grasp tree branches as they crawl across the forest canopies, in which they live. Their tails are longer than their bodies, giving them a full body length of 32-52 inches. Females are generally smaller than males, and a full-grown kinkajou can weigh anywhere from 3-10 pounds – it’s a large range!
Why Are Kinkajous so Interesting?
Besides their long tails, kinkajous have several unique characteristics that make them interesting animals. With ankles that can rotate a full 180 degrees, kinkajous are able to climb down tree trunks headfirst with as much speed as they can climb upwards! They also have extremely long tongues (helpful for scooping the insides of fruits and flowers) that can extend up to 5 inches. In fact, its scientific name, Potos flavus literally translates to “golden drinker,” another nickname for this interesting mammal. Imagine being named for your eating habits! While the kinkajou is best known for its love of sweet fruits, flowers, and honey, it is an omnivorous animal, so it does also eat insects, eggs, and small animals. Although they live far away from and are not related to the binturong, kinkajous and binturongs are both the only omnivorous animals with prehensile tails – very interesting!
Kinkajous Are Unique
The animals kinkajous are related to are racoons, coatimundis, and olingos; however, none of these animals have prehensile tails, nor are their bodies similar to the kinkajou. It is believed that the kinkajou uniquely evolved its arboreal lifestyle and body proportions during the Great American Interchange. This occurred roughly 2.7 million years ago when many animals migrated from North America to South America. Because of this, kinkajous are well adapted to tree life and play an important role in seed dispersal across the forest.
Lifestyle of the Kinkajou
Although kinkajous tend to be solitary when foraging for food, they do live in large family groups and enjoy grooming one another. Dominance amongst kinkajous is related to the individual’s size, rather than sex as with some other animals. However, since males tend to be larger than females, it is traditionally a male-dominated group. These large males take on the responsibility of protecting their members from predators and driving away competing species from food sources. These animals are nocturnal and prefer to be awake during the hours of 7 PM to midnight, resting, and waking again before dawn before sleeping throughout the day.
Kinkajous as Pets
In the exotic pet trade, kinkajous are widely desired. They are adorable, playful creatures and tend to be quiet and docile when raised in captivity. However, they can be very cranky! They hate being woken up during the day or experiencing loud, sudden movements. The last thing you want is to be bitten by a kinkajou. Like sloths, kinkajous lack any enamel coating on their teeth, meaning their teeth maintain bacteria that can cause painful infections in other animals when bitten. As with all animals, kinkajous should be respected and not messed with when they don’t want to be!
Babby Farms Kinkajou
At Babby Farms, our kinkajou is affectionately named Juju Bear. He was raised in captivity and bottle fed at our zoo. He is very sweet and lovable (when he wants to be!) and loves all things kinkajou, including honey. Come visit our Babby Farms kinkajou today – maybe he will grace you with his presence!