Scientists in the US have discovered a new animal living in the cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador.

It has been named olinguito and is the first new species of carnivore to be identified in the Western hemisphere in 35 years.

It has taken more than a decade to identify the mammal, a discovery that scientists say is incredibly rare in the 21st Century.

The credit goes to a team from the Smithsonian Institution.

The trail began when zoologist Kristofer Helgen uncovered some bones and animal skins in storage at a museum in Chicago.

"It stopped me in my tracks," he told BBC News. "The skins were a rich red colour and when I looked at the skulls I didn't recognise the anatomy. It was different to any similar animal I'd seen, and right away I thought it could be a species new to science."


Dr Helgen is curator of mammals at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, which houses the largest mammal collection in the world.

More than 600,000 specimens are flat-packed in trays to save space, their bones picked clean by specially bred beetles and stored in boxes alongside their skins.

Many were collected more than a century ago and were often mislabelled or not properly identified. But recent advances in technology have enabled scientists to extract DNA from even the oldest remains.

The 35cm-long (14in) olinguito is the latest addition to the animal family that includes racoons. By comparing DNA samples with the other five known species, Dr Helgen was able to confirm his discovery.

"It's hard for me to explain how excited I am," he says.

"The olinguito is a carnivore - that group of mammals that includes cats, dogs and bears and their relatives. Many of us believed that list was complete, but this is a new carnivore - the first to be found on the American continent for more than three decades."

Dr Helgen has used such mammal collections to identify many other new species, including the world's biggest bat and the world's smallest bandicoot. But he says the olinguito is his most significant discovery. Its scientific name is Bassaricyon neblina. The last carnivore to be identified in the Americas was the Colombian Weasel.

But even after identifying the olinguito, a crucial question remained: could they be living in the wild?

"We used clues from the specimens about where they might have come from and to predict what kind of forest we might find them in.... (continues http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23701151 )

Na lie. This has been in my village since, always jumping the well and dancing

We call it Ariri

joeydozzy: Na lie. This has been in my village since, always jumping the well and dancing

We call it Ariri

in Yoruba we call it katope

joeydozzy: Na lie. This has been in my village since, always jumping the well and dancing

We call it Ariri

hehehe

joeydozzy: Na lie. This has been in my village since, always jumping the well and dancing

We call it Ariri

opestein:
in Yoruba we call it katope

I want to believe the both of you are joking.
else, this is an indictment on our local anthropologists and biologists!

opestein:
in Yoruba we call it katope

lol in bini we call am ediru u get am,lmao

opestein:
in Yoruba we call it katope

lol in edo we call am ediru u get am,lmao

careytommy:
I want to believe the both of you are joking.
else, this is an indictment on our local anthropologists and biologists!

Our local biologists? Those guys are sleeping. Though I doubt they're the same animal.

IN HAUSA WE CALL IT GEGEI

Balotelli's next pet.

Many animals dey sef wey we never discover (we as in man o)

where is d endtime pple




Crowds Watch as Man Electrocute Himself
http://world-newspapper..com/2013/08/crowds-watch-man-electrocute-himself.html

joeydozzy: Na lie. This has been in my village since, always jumping the well and dancing

We call it Ariri

lol!

it looks like sexkillz

careytommy:
I want to believe the both of you are joking.
else, this is an indictment on our local anthropologists and biologists!

Well, it wouldn't be an indictment.

You wont believe it, but many fauna and flora in Western Africa haven't been identified. They are sent to Kew in England or the Herbarium in Switzerland, where they are studied for years. Sometimes, the finders outlive this study, and one random person takes the glory. That's why we don't bother anymore.

An example was when Camwood, Osun in Yoruba language, was found in Nigeria. It was named here first, having met all the requirements. 35 years running, Kew wont release a name!

joeydozzy: Na lie. This has been in my village since, always jumping the well and dancing

We call it Ariri

Maybe of same semblance.

it obviously originated from Nigeria


but there is one newer specie in aso rock I don't know his/its name but I discovered it'wz nicknamed retardedeen??

HmmmMmmmmm
















































Not new ,just newly discverd

that animal looks harmless bt it s vry dangerous

In calabar we call it ekpeyinkoo

Is it not interesting that new species are still being discovered? The question now is, who knows how many more new species are still yet to be discovered.
This just goes to show that God is still greater than man!

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ds tin don dey my backyard tey tey

In Igbo land, we call it ikiri. If It holds a tree, nothing removes its hand unless u shines torchlight on it.

Ah han,in Portuguese we call it Olinguitotonus

na Igbo man name this thing jor

How does this add to me becoming the Undefeated Champion of Capua

And i wonder if this was also part of d animals in Noah's ark

NOTED!!!

Is this not 'emo' as the Ijebus would call it?

Hmm, as forest and bush plenty reach for Nigeria, our own zoologists and scientists never discover anything new since my great grand father discovered bush baby centuries ago . Instead of taking the new discoveries to the zoo or museum, na shoot my people go shoot am...soup don land be that.



_{Our zoologists are hunters}

boofydon: How does this add to me becoming the Undefeated Champion of Capua

Even Crixus was eventually beheaded by the son of a Roman General...so let us celebrate the discovery of this Alingo (abi na wetin be that thing name self? oh ok, na olinguito)...