Adorable new mammal species found ‘in plain sight’

SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Researchers are announcing the rare discovery of a new species of mammal.

It’s a raccoon-sized creature with a teddy bear face called the olinguito.

A Smithsonian researcher says it lives in the mountainous forests of Ecuador and Columbia where it leaps through the trees at night. It eats fruit and weighs about 2 pounds.

One of them also once lived at the National Zoo in Washington where it was mistaken for a similar animal.

The discovery was announced Thursday.

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