Kinka-what?
Some say he’s a monkey of the night, some say he’s a cat of the tree or a honey bear but I say he’s my new roommate and nocturnal companion.
This is what wikipedia says: The kinkajou (Potos flavus), also known as the honey bear (a name it shares with the sun bear), is a rainforest mammal of the family Procyonidae related to olingos, coatis, raccoons, and the ringtail and cacomistle. It is the only member of the genus Potos. Kinkajous may be mistaken for ferrets or monkeys, but are not closely related.
How could a thing like this have happened to a reasonable person like me? I’ve never before been in the habit of adopting monkey like critters.
It started on a simple Wednesday morning. I was in my yard collecting water in buckets and bottles when Carlos comes up to me, and medio sketchy style, asks me if I want to buy a cat, which I can tell is in his backpack. I say, no thank you, as a matter of fact I currently have five kittens. Then Carlos says no, a "tree cat" and opens up his pack to show me this big ball of fuzz that unfurls itself and looks up at me with huge adorable black eyes. My sense of reason tells me that a monkey/bear/tree cat type animal is not a good idea, but reason quickly looses.
Turns out Carlos and crew had cut down some trees to build a house and found him amongst the branches. They took him away and decided to try and sell him ($10, most likely used to keep boozing). I knew pretty much anyone in site would have just kept him tied up below their house, sadly sad and then eaten with coco when he is older. So now he is part of my home, drinking his milk from the bottle, eating papayas and bananas and entertaining me in the evenings. Given his nocturnality, he likes to sleep throughout the day and play throughout the night.
His activity at night can be a little much for people (such as myself) who like to sleep at night. So I had to build him a little ‘addition’ out on the porch. I put my meager yet enthusiastic carpenter skills to work for about three mornings, and after scavenging and tearing apart my compost bin for wood, awkwardly attaching chicken wire to outside posts, dodging falling and hanging wood pieces (sometimes unsuccessfully) tangling myself in mounds of very tangled chicken wire and nailing a door hinge on backwards, I have a new room in my house, complete with a tree jungle gym and porch overhang addition.
I almost feel the need to apologize for being so obsessed with my new little one. Months of no information and this is all you get, monkey news. But I won’t ask forgiveness because he is so adorable he deserves it. All of my love and attention and all of yours too.
