Kinkajous are nocturnal mammals with a habitat ranging from Mexico as far south as Ecuador and southern Brazil. Although Kinkajou-Potos Flavus sometimes look and act like monkeys, they are actually members of the Procynid family and are related to raccoons and red pandas. They have a lifespan from twenty to twenty-five years. They average in weight around 6.5 pounds and grow to about two feet in length.

Although Kinkajous are also carnivores, they are primarily frigivoruos fruit eaters. They subside on a diet of mangoes, bananas, figs and sapodilla. They play an extremely important ecological role as pollinators by dispersing seeds throughout their habitat. Because fruits are seasonal, Kinkajous also eat tree bark, greens, eggs, frogs and insects.

The nocturnal animals are most active in the early evening up until midnight. The primarily are tree dwellers or arboreal, living high up in the rainforest canopy. They spend the light of the day sleeping in tree hollows in order to avoid direct light.

Most people refer to two types of Kinkajous, the large ones that are in southern and eastern Mexico and Central American as opposed to the smaller ones that are found in the rainforest of South America.

They communicate with one another by scent-marking around their travel routes and home range. Kinkajous also have a wide range of calls or barks, from soft chatters to loud high pitched shrill screams. The Kinkajou’s status ‘living wild’ is threatened as a direct result of deforestation and hunting.