Olinguito: New Mammal Is Identified

Well, there you are. I hoped you weren't abducted by aliens while floating through cyberspace. Thank goodness they didn't get you. That is you, isn't it? Not an alien in disguise, eh? Just checking. You can't be too careful these days. Pour yourself a mugga and grab a virtual treat. They're out of this world! Hey, never mind aliens. We're still discovering the occasional new species on this planet...

A raccoon-sized creature with a teddy bear face has been identified as a new species of mammal.

The olinguito lives in the mountainous forests of Ecuador and Colombia, where it leaps through the trees at night.

It eats mostly fruit, weighs about two pounds (0.9kg) and is about 14in (36cm) long with an equally long tail.

The olinguito belongs to a grouping of large creatures that includes dogs, cats and bears. The creature was known - one of them once lived at the National Zoo in Washington - but it had been mistaken for a similar animal.

"It's been kind of hiding in plain sight for a long time," said Kristofer Helgen, the Smithsonian's curator of mammals who made the announcement in Washington.

The Washington zoo's olinguito, named Ringerl, was mistaken for a sister species, the olingo. Ringerl was shipped from zoo to zoo in the US from 1967 to 1976 to try to get it to breed with other olingos – but it never did.

"It turns out she wasn't fussy," Mr Helgen said. "She wasn't the right species."

Can't say I blame here, can you?

See ya, eh!

Bob