<p><a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/125/"> <img style="margin: 3px 12px 10px -1px; float:left; border:0px;" src="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/graphic/125-logo-cb1370450381.png" alt="Image of the 125 Anniversary logo" width="72" height="72"> </a><strong> A fuzzy fog-dweller with a face like a teddy bear, the olinguito (pictured) <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130815-olinguito-new-species-rare-mammal-science-animals/">is the first carnivore discovered in the Western Hemisphere in more than three decades,</a> a new study says.</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">The 2-pound (0.9-kilogram) creature didn't make itself easy to find. The orange-brown <a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/">mammal</a> lives out a solitary existence in the dense, hard-to-study cloud forests of <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/colombia-guide/">Colombia</a> and <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/ecuador-guide/">Ecuador</a>, which inspired part of its Latin name <em>Bassaricyon neblina</em>: Neblina is Spanish for "fog."</p> <p dir="ltr">What's more, the large-eyed critter is active only at night, when it hunts for fruit in its Andean habitat.</p> <p dir="ltr">Finding a previously unknown mammal is relatively rare, and finding a carnivore—which are less plentiful than herbivores—is "incredibly rare," according to the study, led by <a href="http://vertebrates.si.edu/mammals/mammals_staff_pages/helgen_kris.cfm">Kristofer Helgen</a>, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. (Also see <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/12/photogalleries/101206-rarest-weirdest-species-mammals-edge-list-pictures/">"Pictures: 14 Rarest and Weirdest Mammal Species Named."</a>)</p> <p dir="ltr">That's why the "spectacular" new species is "my most exciting discovery yet," Helgen said at a press conference Thursday in Washington, D.C.</p> <p dir="ltr">The olinguito is now the smallest known member of the <a href="http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/raccoon/">raccoon</a> family. Click through for a closer look at some of its relatives.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>—Christine Dell'Amore</em></p>

Teddy-Bear Face

Image of the 125 Anniversary logo A fuzzy fog-dweller with a face like a teddy bear, the olinguito (pictured) is the first carnivore discovered in the Western Hemisphere in more than three decades, a new study says.

The 2-pound (0.9-kilogram) creature didn't make itself easy to find. The orange-brown mammal lives out a solitary existence in the dense, hard-to-study cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador, which inspired part of its Latin name Bassaricyon neblina: Neblina is Spanish for "fog."

What's more, the large-eyed critter is active only at night, when it hunts for fruit in its Andean habitat.

Finding a previously unknown mammal is relatively rare, and finding a carnivore—which are less plentiful than herbivores—is "incredibly rare," according to the study, led by Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. (Also see "Pictures: 14 Rarest and Weirdest Mammal Species Named.")

That's why the "spectacular" new species is "my most exciting discovery yet," Helgen said at a press conference Thursday in Washington, D.C.

The olinguito is now the smallest known member of the raccoon family. Click through for a closer look at some of its relatives.

—Christine Dell'Amore

Photograph courtesy Mark Gurney

New Carnivore Revealed: Photos of the Olinguito and its Kin

The world's newest carnivore, the olinguito, shares the South American treetops with other fuzzy members of the raccoon family.

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