olinguito

American  

[oh-ling-gwee-toh] / ˌoʊ lɪŋˈgwi toʊ /

noun

olinguitos plural

1. a small mammal of the raccoon family, Bassaricyon neblina, resembling a long-tailed, slender domestic cat with a bearlike face, inhabiting the mountainous forests of Ecuador and Colombia: its identification in 2013 marked the Western Hemisphere’s first new carnivorous mammal species since 1978.

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• olinguitos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of olinguito

Fist recorded in 2013; from Spanish: literally, “little olingo,” equivalent to olingo ( def. ) + -ito diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

One of Helgen’s main claims to fame was describing a new species of olingo, a small mammal related to the raccoon, which Helgen and his collaborators called the olinguito.

From The Verge • Aug. 9, 2016

The olinguito is not only adorable, but it’s also the first new carnivore discovered in the Western hemisphere in thirty five years!

From Scientific American • Dec. 31, 2013

Discovering new species of carnivorous mammals is really rare, as the recent discovery of the olinguito pointed out.

From Slate • Oct. 18, 2013

DNA tests revealed that an olingo kept in US zoos during the 1960s and 1970s was actually an olinguito.

From Nature • Aug. 21, 2013

Other discoveries often have been known to indigenous peoples for hundreds if not thousands of years, but not the olinguito.

From Washington Post • Aug. 15, 2013