Night life: Positional behaviors and activity patterns of the Neotropical kinkajou, Potos flavus (Carnivora, Procyonidae)

Abstract

Studying positional behaviors is important for understanding how animals interact with their immediate environment. This is particularly important in arboreal species since arboreal milieus are primarily characterized by three-dimensional problems that arboreal species must overcome to efficiently access resources. Similarly, a fundamental aspect of an animal's ecology is its daily activity pattern. This information is important for understanding the basic ecology of animal species and their eco-evolutionary dynamics. This study sought to understand the habitat use and nocturnal lifestyle of the highly arboreal kinkajou (Potos flavus) by documenting variation in positional behaviors and activity patterns using 2223 photographs obtained from 27 camera traps in French Guiana. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Kernel density estimation (KDE), and Gantt charts. Our results indicate that kinkajous show a strictly nocturnal activity pattern beginning from 19:00 h to 05:57 h, with peak active periods between 01:00 h and 02:00 h. The most frequent activities were scanning (48.33%) and traveling (47.13%). Quadrupedal walking (95.43%) was the main locomotor behavior during traveling. However, when crossing gaps between two substrates, kinkajous would either bridge (42.22%), leap (33.33%), or drop (26.67%) across gaps. Inactive periods were characterized by grooming (77.32%) and resting (27.84%) while mostly assuming a sitting (90.67%) or a catlike body curl posture (92.59%), interchangeably. This study highlights the broad array of positional behaviors displayed by kinkajous, further providing information to understand its basic ecology and eco-evolutionary dynamics.