olinguito

[oh-ling-gwee-toh]

noun

plural

olinguitos 

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.

Word History and Origins

Origin of olinguito¹

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

Example Sentences

Delacre’s charming and graceful verse in Spanish and English takes readers on an alphabet adventure in the Ecuadoran cloud forest in search of a newly discovered little mammal — the olinguito.

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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.

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With the help of the Smithsonian’s formidable PR machine, the extremely cute olinguito — which, according to science writer Ed Yong, "looks like someone designed the world’s cutest stuffed toy and then animated it" — got worldwide media attention when it was announced in 2013.

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Lulu Delacre’s ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z!

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As day begins, a zoologist sets out for a walk in the cloud forest, hoping to spot an olinguito in its native habitat.

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