Imagine you're standing on the rainforest floor in the middle of the night. Moths flutter around your head and katydids chirp in the trees. In the branches above, you hear a rustling noise. You shine your headlamp into the canopy of trees to see an orange pair of eyes shining back at you in the dark. Turn on your flashlight and point it toward the creature... you've found a kinkajou!
Some people think kinkajous look like a cross between a monkey and a teddy bear, but their closest relatives are raccoons! Kinkajous have golden-brown fur, a prehensile tail (which means they can use it to grip on to branches) and a long, skinny tongue they use to drink the nectar out of flowers. They are about the size of a housecat.
The first time I saw a kinkajou here in Panama, I was with my supervisor, Rasmus, and field partner, Alexis. In early January, a tree which grew one of their favorite foods, balsa flowers, had just begun to bloom. Five kinkajous had come to visit the tree, grabbing flowers with their hand-like paws. I was so excited to see so many of the little creatures climbing and leaping around the tree! They were very agile, unafraid to climb upside-down or hang by their tail to reach a yummy-looking flower.
