Adorable Carnivore 'Olinguito' Discovered By Scientists From Smithsonian Institution [Video]

A team of scientists discovered a new species of a mammal carnivore, an adorable and mysterious creature that has been overlooked by experts for the past decade.

Now considered as the first carnivore species to be discovered for the past 35 years in both North and South American continents, the new species was named "olinguito," closely related to the "olingos," a group of tree-living carnivores in South America.

According to the team of scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, it took them more than a decade to prove that the specimens they previously examined were from another species.

The discovery of the 35-centimeter long adorable carnivore, which looks like a combination of a house-hold cat and a teddy bear, began when zoologist Kristofer Helgen examined specimens of olingo in a museum in Chicago.

While examining more than 95 percent of total olingo specimens in the museum, Helgen found specimens that have smaller and differently-shaped teeth and skull compared to other samples. He also noticed that the samples had longer and denser coats, which convinced him that the specimens he examined could be a different species from the olingo family.

"It stopped me in my tracks," Helgen said in an interview with BBC News. "The skins were a rich red color and when I looked at the skulls I didn't recognize the anatomy. It was different to any similar animal I'd seen, and right away I thought it could be a species new to science."

To confirm if he'd made new discovery, Helgen compared DNA samples with five other known species from the carnivore family, which also includes raccoons.

"It's hard for me to explain how excited I am. The olinguito is a carnivore - that group of mammals that includes cats, dogs and bears and their relatives. Many of us believed that list was complete, but this is a new carnivore - the first to be found on the American continent for more than three decades," Helgen said.

After confirming the identity of the olinguito, Helgen and his team used clues from the specimens that they had to determine the habitat of this species. The team found out that the olinguitos inhabit forests in Central Colombia and Western Ecuador, eating fruits and producing one baby at a time just like humans.

Helgen pointed out that the discovery of the olinguito proved once again that the world has yet to be explored completely, saying that there could be more surprises waiting to be unveiled in the future.

"The discovery of the olinguito shows us that the world is not yet completely explored, its most basic secrets not yet revealed. If new carnivores can still be found, what other surprises await us? So many of the world's species are not yet known to science. Documenting them is the first step toward understanding the full richness and diversity of life on Earth," Helgen said.