Mystery Animal Contest: Who Is This Inquisitive Gent?

Mystery Animal: January 4, 2013 via Tumblr

So, here are the rules: To answer, follow us on Twitter and tweet at us with the hashtag #mysteryanimal. For example:

Hey @PopSci, is the #mysteryanimal a baboon?

And then I might say "if you think that's a baboon, perhaps you are the baboon!" But probably not, because this is a positive environment and all guesses are welcome and also this is not a very common animal so guess whatever you want!

The first person to get it right wins! We'll retweet the answer from @PopSci, and also update this post so your amazing animal knowledge will be permanently etched onto the internet. Show your kids! Your dumb kids who thought that was a baboon!

Update: Congratulations to @Sciwhat, who correctly guessed the identity of this amazing animal! It's a northern tamandua (Tamandua mexicana), a small variety of anteater which lives in forests from southern Mexico through Central America. Like other anteaters, it's extremely muscular, but also very curiously adapted to its specific ant/termite/other bug-based diet: no teeth, a long snout with a limited jaw, and a super long, sticky tongue which can dart in and out several times per second. It's also really cuddly and adorable. Hi tamandua!