Creature Feature #75: Cacomistle

Welcome to the first Creature Feature of 2014. I am starting today with the first of the Cs and, if prediction serves me correctly, we should be up to N by the end of the year. I have a years worth of exciting animal discoveries planned: there will be many birds and mammals, and some of the more bizarre creepy crawlies. There are other ways to follow the Animal-A-Day/Creature Feature project too - you can watch me on twitter @makilumi or subscribe to my tumblr feed: http://lemurkat.tumblr.com which is exclusively dedicated to the presentation of a piece of animal art a day. Lastly, if you like my art and wish to own a piece of it yourself, then I would urge you to become a fan of my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LemurKatArts in which I will be doing a giveaway every time I finish a letter (approximately every 36 days).

Today, we begin the year with this charming little creature:

She is a Cacomistle, a secretive cousin to the racoon. Her home is the rainforests of Central America, where she occupies the canopy - usually found in the middle and upper levels. Solitary and shy, her range can cover up to 20 hectares. She follows a variable diet: insects, fruit, small birds and other mammals, reptiles and amphibians. She frequently hunts near bromeliads, as these plants naturally collect water and thus attract  moisture-loving potential prey. The only time she interacts with males is for mating, and she is receptive for that only one day of the year. Two months later she will birth one cub, who becomes independent after three months and sets out to found a territory of his own.