A New Carnivorous Mammal Species is Discovered in the American Continents

Wow this is cool!!


Smithsonian

For all of modern history, a small, carnivorous South American mammal in the raccoon family has evaded the scientific community. Untold thousands of these red, furry creatures scampered through the trees of the Andean cloud forests, but they did so at night, hidden by dense fog. Nearly two dozen preserved samples—mostly skulls or furs— were mislabeled in museum collections across the United States. There’s even evidence that one individual lived in several American zoos during the 1960s—its keepers were mystified as to why it refused to breed with its peers.

Olinguitos, formally known as Bassaricyon neblina, inhabit the cloud forests of Ecuador and Colombia in the thousands, and the team’s analysis suggests that they are distributed widely enough to exist as four separate subspecies. “This is extremely unusual in carnivores,” Helgen said, in advance of the announcement. “I honestly think that this could be the last time in history that we will turn up this kind of situation—both a new carnivore, and one that's widespread enough to have multiple kinds.”

For the really curious. Here is the peer reviewed journal entry.
ZooKeys
Abstract:
We present the first comprehensive taxonomic revision and review the biology of the olingos, the endemic Neotropical procyonid genus Bassaricyon, based on most specimens available in museums, and with data derived from anatomy, morphometrics, mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, field observations, and geographic range modeling. Species of Bassaricyon are primarily forest-living, arboreal, nocturnal, frugivorous, and solitary, and have one young at a time. We demonstrate that four olingo species can be recognized, including a Central American species (B. gabbii), lowland species with eastern, cis-Andean (B. alleni) and western, trans-Andean (B. medius) distributions, and a species endemic to cloud forests in the Andes. The oldest evolutionary divergence in the genus is between this last species, endemic to the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador, and all other species, which occur in lower elevation habitats. Surprisingly, this Andean endemic species, which we call the Olinguito, has never been previously described; it represents a new species in the order Carnivora and is the smallest living member of the family Procyonidae. We report on the biology of this new species based on information from museum specimens, niche modeling, and fieldwork in western Ecuador, and describe four Olinguito subspecies based on morphological distinctions across different regions of the Northern Andes.

Cute little bugger!

I guess this means that I can still hold out hope on them finding Bigfoot(s)

Originally posted by ATSmediaPRO
A New Carnivorous Mammal Species is Discovered

So if I understand this correctly, it has not been discovered but was in fact known all along.
And that it is only know that it has been placed in a subspecies category of its own, rather than lumped in with other olingos.

As the title of the paper says "Taxonomic revision of the olingos..."

One step closer to that elusive Bigfoot.

reply to post by tvtexan


Yeah its pretty cute.

To bad it would probably try and rip your face off if you tried to cuddle with it

AWESOME!!!
Is it edible?

Originally posted by TFCJay
One step closer to that elusive Bigfoot.

If we have bigfoot in a zoo wondering why it won't mate with other animals then yes. Otherwise, no.

The article so contradicts the title though?Link

They learned that the olinguito is mostly active at night, is mainly a fruit eater, rarely comes out of the trees and has one baby at a time.

So if it eats fruit does that not make it a omnivore? Or am I missing something here?: Is being an omnivore to be considered a carnivore by biologists? Still it is a cool confirmation of newish critter.

Originally posted by LionOfGOD
AWESOME!!!
Is it edible?

even though it likely is, eating carnivorous animals is not that tasty

Originally posted by hangedman13
The article so contradicts the title though?Link

They learned that the olinguito is mostly active at night, is mainly a fruit eater, rarely comes out of the trees and has one baby at a time.

So if it eats fruit does that not make it a omnivore? Or am I missing something here?:

Is being an omnivore to be considered a carnivore by biologists? Still it is a cool confirmation of newish critter.

It only eats monsanto fruits. Since they contain animal dna it makes them carnivorus

reply to post by tvtexan


Would they be bigfoots, or bigfeet?