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| Behold Ringerl: The Olinguito (Courtesy of news.com) |
Imagine in your mind a mixture of three animals: A cat, a dog, and a bear. Almost sounds too adorable to be real, right? Wrong. This rare creature, dubbed the "olinguito" has been found in the National Zoo in Washington: Far away from its natural habitat in the mountainous forests spread throughout Ecuador and Colombia. This little critter, affectionately named "Ringerl", has spent about a year in captivity after mistakenly being identified as an olingo (a very similar "sister species") before being discovered
What's unique about this find is that it isn't simply a case of mistaken identity, it is the first newly discovered mammal in 35 years! A recent article on
news.com describes the animal's characteristics as follows:
"It's hard to figure how olingos and onlinguitos were confused for each other. 'How is it different? In almost every way that you can look at it,' Dr Helgen [a dedicated Smithsonian researcher who has been tracking the species for almost a decade] said. Olinguitos are smaller, have shorter tails, a rounder face, tinier ears and darker bushier fur, he said. 'It looks kind of like a fuzzball ... kind of like a cross between a teddy bear and a house cat,' Dr Helgen said. It eats fruit, weighs about 900 grams and has one baby at a time." (courtesy of The Associated Press)
It is certainly fascinating that we have discovered such a rare (and adorable) species of mammal. This incredible discover could implicate that there very well could be even more undiscovered species of mammals out there that we have simply overlooked.
A problem that could emerge from this discovery, however, is the decimation of the species if zoos begin to capture these olinguitos and place them in captivity. Another possible problem could be the destruction of their natural habitat for commercial purposes (such as housing developments, zoos, hotels, etc...) In order to prevent this, precautionary guidelines need to be put in place to protect the olinguito and its habitat. Preservation of this species needs to be a top priority!
Wow! A new species! That is pretty exciting news. And to think that it had just been mistaken for something else. I agree with you on two accounts. One, that preservation does need to be a top priority and two, that the olinguito is pretty adorable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Tabytha, this is the cutest little thing I've seen in a while and too be the first new species in 35 years? Wow! What'a world.
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