Why did the kinkajou cross the road? And what's a kinkajou, anyway? One of the mammals—which look like a cross between a monkey and a tiny bear—was found far from its normal rainforest habitat this week at a highway rest stop amid the rolling sagebrush plains of central Washington state, officials say. Kinkajous have prehensile tails, and this one was spotted Sunday climbing on a tall wooden post along Interstate 82 southeast of Yakima, the state Department of Transportation said in a post on X.
"We don't know if it was dropped off or escaped," the post said. The animal was rescued by the state Fish and Wildlife Department. Kinkajous are carnivores that live in tropical rainforests from southern Mexico through Brazil, according to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, where this little creature was taken to live temporarily. With sandy yellow fur, round ears, and big dark eyes, they are capable of grasping objects and are often mistakenly called primates, the zoo said, per the AP. "Despite their cuteness, kinkajous do not make good pets," the zoo said.
State Trooper Nick Daley says he hadn't heard of a kinkajou before he was asked to help trap the animal at the rest stop, KING5 reports. "I thought it was a joke because my thought was it was some sort of Pokémon," he says. This particular kinkajou is being quarantined in the zoo's hospital to ensure it's not carrying any diseases and it will undergo a comprehensive wellness exam this week, officials say. Malia Somerville, the zoo's general curator, says it doesn't have a space that would meet the kinkajou's needs and a national search is underway for a "forever home." (More exotic animals stories.)
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