The Kinkajou
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Potos flavus

Home:    Central and South American forests

Food:    Flowers, honey, leaves and insects

Size (length with tail & weight):    17 to 23 inches
                                                                3.5 to 5.5 pounds

Life Span:    Up to 24 years in captivity

Kinkajou Trivia:

• The Raccoon is a close cousin of the Kinkajou.
  
  
• Kinkajou are active at night.
  
  
• Kinkajou have prehensile tails, which allows them to hang upside down.  There are only two carnivores that have prehensile tails.
  
  
• Kinkajou means Honey Bear in the Indian language.  They derived their name from a love of honey.  
  
  
• Kinkajou resemble monkeys and bears.
  
  
• Kinkajous have a light brown, honey colored fur.
  
  
• The Kinkajou rarely leave their tree homes and usually live alone or in pairs.

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Our Meet the Animals section includes research from the following websites:

The Austin Zoo's website:  www.austinzoo.org.

Spanish translations courtesy of the Austin Zoo.

Rolling Hills Refuge Wildlife Conservation Center http://www.rhrwildlife.com/animbot.htm

The Birmingham Zoo  http://www.birminghamzoo.com/

The WWW Virtual Library: Zoos  http://zoonet.home.mindspring.com/www_virtual_lib/zoos.html

Photographs in Our Meet the Animals Section from PrintMaster Platinum v8.0 software.

Research on farm animals came primarily from  http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/

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