KINKAJOUS

Description

Kinkajous come in 14 subspecies and various sizes. The larger varieties of Kinkajous can reach a weight of up to 8 pounds, and attain a body length of about 25 inches. My breeding pair of kinkajous weigh about 5 pounds and are roughly the size of a small housecat.

Kinkajous have fully prehensile grasping tails, which can be used like an extra "hand" when climbing. The tail can be almost as long as the body (up to 45 cm), and is also used for balance when moving from one tree limb to another. If you look carefully at a Kinkajou's tail in the proper light, you can see a series of dark rings similar to those of their cousins, the raccoons and coatimundis.

Like their cousins the cacomistles and ringtailed cats, Kinkajous can turn their hind feet backwards, so that the clawed toes can be used when descending head-first. Their front paws are very sensitive and the palms are bare-skinned. They often dip their front paws in water or small openings and lick the food or juice off their paws much like another cousin, the raccoon.

Kinkajous' vision is poor, and they can't sense differences in color, so Kinkajous rely primarily on their highly developed senses of touch and smell. Kinkajous communicate with each other by scent-marking around their home range and travel routes. Scent glands are located in bare areas on either side of the face, at the corner of the mouth, on the throat, and on the abdomen. However, they have no noticeable odor to humans. They also have a wide range of signal calls, from soft chitters to barks and shrill quavering screams.

Being nocturnal, Kinkajous are primarily active at night, with peak activity between about 7:00pm and midnight, and again an hour before dawn. During the light of day, they sleep in tree hollows or in shaded tangles of leaves, and avoid direct sunlight. Being arboreal (tree dwelling), Kinkajous in the wild live in the canopies of the rainforest jungle, and seldom, if ever, come down to the jungle floor.

Behavior

Kinkajous are beautiful animals and can make wonderful pets, since their personalities are often playful, yet docile and sweet. They are not destructive animals and have been known to be kept in some houses without a cage.

Kinkajous are generally quiet and docile, and they have no noticeable odor. Because they are slow and languid, especially just after being wakened from a nap, they do not particularly like quick sudden movements. As a rule, Kinkajous are gentle and nonaggressive most of the time, although they can get wound up and become quite playful, and like to "dive bomb" and pounce on you from high places!

Although primarily arboreal and nocturnal in their native habitat, they will play on the ground in captivity, and if you spend a lot of time playing and socializing with them during the day, they will sleep at night. However, be prepared for the fact that they may also want to play and explore much of the night, and a good sized cage with branches is usually the best night-time solution for them if you want to get any sleep!

Most Kinkajou owners do not have much luck in getting their Kinkajous litter trained. Generally, Kinkajous climb to a high place and "let go"; However, they seem to get into a habit of going in the same locations, so after a while, you learn where to place mats to catch the droppings. Some people place a piece of vinyl flooring under the inside and outside of the cage for easier cleanup.

Care

Your new baby kinkajou will come to you still on its bottle, and will need its bottle about four times a day. I feed my baby kinkajous puppy esbilac with yogurt added. At 4 to 6 weeks you may start introducing various fruits and monkey biscuits. When you start supplementing its diet, you can slowly start weaning it from its bottle. You should wean somewhere between three and four months of age.

When raising a bottle-fed baby, remember you are the "momma" now, and you're responsible for taking care of whatever baby needs. This includes stimulating before or after each feeding to make it go to the bathroom.

Babies can have trouble thermoregulating themselves and should always be kept warm. Keeping your baby in an aquarium or a kennel with a heating pad underneath and turned on low ensures the baby stays nice and warm. Never assume the temperature is right, however; always put your hand inside where your new little one is sleeping to make sure the temperature is not too cold or too hot. I also like to have a little stuffed animal in with it to keep it company.

Housing
I recommend that you have some sort of area or enclosure where you can be assured of your baby's safety as well as the safety of your home. How much time is actually spent in this can somewhat determine what size it needs to be. When designing your enclosure, please use common sense and always keep safety in mind. If you have an outdoor enclosure, it needs to be very secure with both a top and a bottom on it, as kinkajous are very clever escape artists. A cement floor makes for easy clean up. Nest boxes are essential for your kinkajou to sleep in. I like Rubbermaid's five gallon boxes. Simply cut a round hole in the side of it and hang it from a wall. Bigger is always better for the size of your enclosure.

The enclosure for our breeding pair of kinkajous is in our barn. The inside cage portion is 12 feet long by 4 feet wide by 6 feet high. The outside portion is 12' x 12' x 6' high. The floor is cement. We designed our enclosure to potentially fit a variety of animals, so we used vinyl coated hardware cloth for wire. I would not recommend less than 1x1 holes in your wire, and since kinkajous can mark their territory, vinyl coated wire will last longer.

Kinkajous will need a heat source when the temperature falls below about 60 degrees. We can close the outdoor portion of our enclosure and we add a heat lamp above their nest box for warmth when it gets cold. They cannot touch the heat lamp or get to it in any way. Since kinkajous are arboreal by nature, enrich the enclosure with ropes, shelves, playstations, and anything else your creative mind can come up with.

Names
Because they are nocturnal, kinkajous are sometimes called "Nightwalkers", but because of their honey colored fur and their love of honey, they are more often known as "Honeybears". (I call Osito our "living teddy bear"!) Kinkajous are also known by a variety of other names in local, regional and other languages:

Latin: Potus Flavus

French: poto

Japanese:

Mandarin Chinese: mi xiong

Russian:

Polish: Kinkażu, wikławiec, chwytacz

Czech: kynkażu

Hungarian: kinkaju

Dutch: Rolstaartbeer, Kinkajoe

German: Wickelbär

Danish: snøhalebjørn, honnigbjørn

Norwegian: viklebjørn, honningbjørn, gripehalebjørn, snohalebjørn

Swedish: veckelbjörn, kinkaju, gripsvansbjörn

Finnish: kierteishäntäkarhu

Portugeuse: kinkajú, jupará, macaco-de-noite

Esperanto: kinkajuo, rul-vosta urso

Italian: cercoletto giallo

Spanish: mico leon, mico de noche, martucha

Mexico: marta, martucha, tancho, oso mielero, godoy, mico de noche

Honduras: micoleón, guatuza

Belize: nightwalker, martilla

Nicaragua: mico de noche, cuyusa, cuyu[s] (Matagalpa region)

Costa Rica: martilla

Panama: cusumbi, mico de noche, gato del noche, guiso

French Guiana: singe de nuit

Suriname: meti-keskesi

Venezuela: cuchicuchi, pui-pui, mono de noche

Columbia: perro de monte, oso mielero, micoleón, leoncillo, leoncito, cuchicuchi

Ecuador: martica, tutamono, chuche, cuchicuchi, cusumbo

Bolivia: mono michi

Peru: chosna, martucha, chuchumli

Brazil: jupará, macaco-de-noite

Chile: kinkqeos

Miskito: uyuk

Quechua: ?

Warao: simo anahorotu, simo anajorotu

Maya: akabmaax

E-Mail: bojofarm@fastermail.com