
New species is first carnivore found in the Americas in 35 years - whyenot
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/08/new-species-is-first-carnivore-found-in-the-americas-in-35-years/
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whyenot
I did field work in Panama and Ecuador at the same time/place as one of the
authors of this paper (Roland Kays; he's also the first person to cross the
isthmus of Panama on a unicycle). The field work required to find and observe
olingos and olinguitos is pretty hairy. They are nocturnal and arboreal. You
can radio track them, but first you have to find them and catch them. Not an
easy thing to do in the understory at night.

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PhantomGremlin
Maybe I'm just not reading the article carefully. Or maybe these scientists
are in line for a Nobel Prize for finding a "carnivore" species that "feeds on
fruit". Or maybe it's just a very poorly written article.

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whyenot
The are talking about taxonomy (order Carnivora in the class Mammalia) not
diet. Many tropical carnivores (kinkajous, olingos, tayras, coatimundis, ...)
eat large amounts of fruit. They will also eat "crunchies" (invertebrates,
small vertebrates) when they come across them.

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tankbot
My armchair assessment was that its long, finger-like paws were for digging
those "crunchies" out of trees, etc. but was disappointed when the article
didn't mention anything about it.

I never knew until now that there is no taxonomical classification for
Omnivores.

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greenyoda
A more comprehensive article can be found here:

[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130815-oling...](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130815-olinguito-
new-species-rare-mammal-science-animals/)

