THE KINKAJOU. 273 



dress, climbing from branch to branch in quest of food, and 

 using its prehensile tail to assist itself in its manoeuvres. 

 Few mammalia are more incommoded by light than the 

 Kinkajou : we have seen the pupils of the eyes contracted to 

 a mere rotind point, even when the rays of the sun have not 

 been very bright, while the animal at the same time testified 

 by its actions its aversion to the unwelcome glare. 



In size, the Kinkajou is equal to a full-grown cat, but its 

 limbs are much stouter and more muscular, and its body 

 more firmly built. In walking, the sole of the foot is applied 

 fairly to the ground, as in the case of the badger. Its claws 

 are strong and curved, the toes on each foot being five. The 

 ears are short and rounded. The fur is full, but not long, 

 and very closely set. There is no animal among the carni- 

 vora (as far as our experience goes,) in which the tongue is 

 endowed with more remarkable powers of extension. Among 

 ruminating animals, capable of extending this organ to a very 

 great length, and of using it much in the same manner as 

 the elephant does the extremity of his proboscis, drawing 

 down by it the twigs and boughs of the trees, upon the leaves 

 of which the creature feeds ; in like manner can the Kinka- 

 jou thrust forth its tongue, a long and slender instrument, 

 capable of being inserted into crevices, or fissures, in search 

 of insects, reptiles, or the eggs of birds. Baron Humboldt 

 informs us that this animal is an extensive devastator of the 

 nests of the wild bee, whence the Spanish missionaries have 

 given it the name of " honey-bear," and that it uses its long 

 tongue to lick up the honey from the cells of the comb. In 

 its fondness for honey it is not singular, for the ratel (mellivora 

 capensis), a plantigrade allied to the badger, is also celebrated 

 for the havoc it makes among the hives of the wild bee in 

 order to obtain the luscious contents. In addition, however, 

 to this food, birds, eggs, small animals, roots, and fruits, con- 

 stitute the diet of the Kinkajou ; and, as we have seen, it 

 will draw these articles towards it with its tongue, when pre- 

 sented just within its reach. In drinking, it laps like a dog, 

 and also makes use of its fore-paws occasionally in holding 



