Kinkajou

Procyonidae

Strictly arboreal (very rarely drop to the floor), living in the canopy of the Neotropical, both wet and dry forests in secondary forests and the Amazon rainforest. Rarely present in palm groves, spiny forests and Misty forests.

Potos flavus are strictly nocturnal animals, and usually solitary, although sometimes they can be seen in pairs or find gathered in small groups (one dominant male, a subordinate male and females with their young form the Group) at the top of a tree feeding on fruit.
Generally speaking, pass the hours a day sleeping guarecidos in the Hollows of trees.
At night, when they are active, they move quickly among the trees, jumping from one to another (often noisily) with great agility. Mark, both territories and routes, using the odoriferous glands of the chest and abdomen.
The Kinkajús have a highly flexible spine that allows them to maneuver skillfully even in the terminals of the trees branches to obtain its fruits. This flexibility, which allows a rotation of 180 degrees between the pelvis and the head, is a unique feature that distinguishes them from their palaughing nearby, the Coatis and raccoons; It also has a mechanism of the hind legs at the Tarsus investment that allows you to download with ease of upside-down trees or hanging upside down in the branches.
Highly vocal, emit diverse such as sharp and penetrating screaming sounds (very characteristic and that make them some of the animals we hear at night in the Woods), barking, nasal grunts, short whistles, chirps, squeaks and sounds like sneezing.

Omnivorous, they feed mainly on fruits (can represent up to 99% of their diet), but supplement their diet with seeds, flowers, buds, tender leaves, honey, small beetles, ants, larvae of insects and occasionally eggs, small birds and mammals.
Their long and agile language allows them to extract the nectar of the flowers, the honey of the honeycombs, capturing small insects stingless and lick the water deposited on the leaves and flowers.
Due to their diet and mobility (in a single night can visit several trees), contribute to (with tongue) crossed pollination and dispersal of seeds (with their excrement).

The Kinkajou female comes in heat approximately once every three months and gives light to one or two cubs per year (there are reports of 4, or even 6 pups, but bearing in mind that the female only has two breasts, it seems difficult that in nature these are viable).
The dominant male mates with the female of the group, and often with neighbouring groups. Occasionally, the subordinate male allowed mate with the female of the group.
In the ritual of mating the male olisquea and pinch the lower jaw and throat of the female and stimulus with rubbing on the inside of the wrists.
The gestation period ranges from 98 to 120 days (generally between 112 and 118 days).
Puppies are born with their eyes closed; at 2 weeks they have already opened the eyes; at 5 weeks they begin to walk; at 7 weeks, the prehensile tail is longer functional; between 8 and 12 weeks they begin to take solid food, near the 22 weeks already have increased 12 times its weight, measured three times the length, and they have already acquired the fur of adults.
During breastfeeding, which lasts 3 - 5 months, the mother carries pup hanging from her womb.In this period, mothers are particularly voracious because of the high energy costs posed to them by the lactation and while they feed, leave the baby safely in a branch or tree near.
In captivity their average life span is 19-23 years (although there are records of up to 30 years), but in nature it is likely to be significantly lower.

• Gestation period: 98-120 days.
• Litter size: 1 (sometimes 2)
• Sexual maturity: 19 months (males); 30 months (females).
• Longevity: 19-23 years (in captivity).

Central America and the South; from the East and South of Mexico through Belize and Costa Rica in Central America and South to South of Ecuador and South Brazil (in Mato Grosso).
Altimétricamente, they are seldom below 500 m of altitude, but they reach heights of up to 2,200 m altitude.
Countries: Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela

• Subspecies:

POTUS flavus arborensis (Costa Rica)
Potos flavus aztecus (Veracruz, Mexico)
Potos flavus (b. Chiapas, Mexico) boothi
Potos flavus (Yucatán, México-Nicaragua) campechensis
Potos flavus chapadensis (Mato Grosso, Brazil)
POTUS flavus longifolia (Panama, Belize, Costa Rica)
Potos flavus dugesii (S. Oaxaca, Chiapas, Mexico S.)
Potos flavus flavus (Guyana, Amazon, Brazil, Venezuela)
Potos flavus guerrerensis (SE.) Warrior, SO. (Oaxaca)
Potos flavus isthmicus (Canal zone, Panama)
POTUS flavus megalotus (Ecuador, Colombia, Panama)
Potos flavus meridensis (Venezuela)
Potos flavus modestus (SW.) (Ecuador, not of the Peru)

• Synonyms (synonyms) / taxonomic history:

Lemur flavus (Schreber, 1774: 188)
Mustela potto (Müller, 1776: 3)
Viverra caudivolvula (Schreber, 1778: 453)
Viverra prehensilis (Kerr, 1792: 169)
Cercoleptes lepida (Illiger, ): 109)
Night Nasua (Wied [-Neuwíed], 1826: 298)
Cercoleptes megalotus (Martin, 1836: 82)
Cercoleptes brachyotus (Martin, 1836: 82)
Viverra caudivolvula (Cuvier, 1839)
Cercoleptes brachyotos (Schinz, 1844: 311)
Potos (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier, 1795: 187)
Pottos (Gray, 1827: 115). Amendment of Potos (Geoffroy (Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier, 1795: 187))
POTUS (anonymous, 1923). Amendment of Potos (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier, 1795: 187)

Central America and the South; from the East and South of Mexico through Belize and Costa Rica in Central America and South to South of Ecuador and South Brazil (in Mato Grosso).
Altimétricamente, they are seldom below 500 m of altitude, but they reach heights of up to 2,200 m altitude.
Countries: Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela

• Status CITES: Appendix III
• IUCN Status: Least concern (2008)