A new species of mammal has been confirmed by scientists as the Olinguito, which is being described as a cross between a raccoon and a teddy bear.
According to The Associated Press, the olinguito is in the same classification as dogs, cats and bears. It has a long tail, is about 2 feet tall and weighs about 2 pounds.
Thus far, the olinguito has been spotted in the forests of Ecuador and Columbia.
Interestingly enough, this isn’t actually the first sighting of the olinguito, which was once living in the Smithsonian run National Zoo in Washington for at least a year. Originally the olinguito was misidentified as an olingo, a sister species.
“It’s been kind of hiding in plain sight for a long time,” Kristofer Helgen, the Smithsonian’s curator of mammals explains.
Helgen finally realized that the olingo was actually not such when it refused to mate with others. He then gathered his team and began a search for a sister mamal.
Helgen explains that an olinguito is actually much different than an olingo.
“It looks kind of like a fuzzball ... kind of like a cross between a teddy bear and a house cat,” Helgen describes.
The olinguito is the first carnivore to be discovered in the United States in 35 years, Reuters reports.
The olinguito’s official name is Bassaricyon neblina.
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