Kinkajous are elusive animals, sleeping by day inside tree holes,
active at night in the forest canopy high above ground. Equally
elusive is the origin of their name. According to Merriam-Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary, the word "kinkajou" is thought to be a
French alteration of the Algonquian word for wolverine, quincajou.
How did that come about? The wolverine lives in Earth's far
northern latitudes; the kinkajou lives in the New World tropics.
The wolverine weighs up to 45 pounds (20 kilograms); the kinkajou
tops out at 9 pounds (4 kilograms). Even though both are tree
dwellers with strong claws, rounded ears, and thick fur, it's hard
to imagine how the two could be thought to be the same animalif
seen alive. But perhaps kinkajou pelts came north along the
far-ranging trade routes of Native Americans, and perhaps French
fur traders thought they came from small wolverines.
In another case of possible confused identities, consider the
kinkajou's scientific name, Potos flavus, which roughly translates
from Latin as "golden drinker." Was the kinkajou given this name
because of its golden fur and its fondness for sweet nectar, or did
the name come about because of the animal's physical resemblance to
the African potto (Perodicticus potto) ? These are two more
questions about this curious animal for biologistsor linguiststo
solve.
Jennifer L. Fox
