Hi Steemit family!
Today we will meet an animal that is often confused with the grated tail lemur, inhabits parts of Mexico and the United States, also known as the grated tail cat. Come and join me to learn a little about the life of the lintel.
It is usually called in different ways, such as cacomixtle norteño or bassariscus astutus, has the size of an average cat, and is found exactly in the North Midwest to southern Mexico. It belongs to the raccoon family, Procyonidae.
Although it is the size of a cat it is more slender than this one, its body resembles more to that of a weasel, the color of its fur goes from yellow to grayish, accompanied by white stripes with gray, that cover all its body from the belly, throat up to the interior of its back legs.
The most outstanding is its beautiful long ringed tail, easily surpassing the length of the body, with a total of 16 black horizontal stripes, its eyes have a powerful purple color, and its weight does not surpass 1 kilogram.
This mammal lives in places of extreme aridity and with very rocky surfaces, it is an animal of nocturnal habits, for that reason, it is endowed with two big eyes. One of the curiosities of this great mammal is its ability to turn its ankles 180 degrees, this allows it to be a good climber of great agility between rocks and stones, there are no limits to the dexterity and agility of this animal.
The lintel or cacomixtle lives in arid and rocky areas and is an animal of nocturnal habits, that's why it has big purple eyes. An extraordinary characteristic of the basariqui is that it can turn the direction of its rear ankles 180º, which gives it enormous agility when climbing rocks and trees. It can descend vertically at full speed through the trunk of a tree. It is an extraordinary climber, which glides through cracks and rocky cornices with great ease.
They are omnivorous par excellence, their diet is based on what they can find daily, which can be berries, insects, lizards, eggs, birds, mice. They see very well in the dark which gives them a very big advantage when it comes to another animal, it is undetectable.
In Mexico they have many years domesticating it, especially in the rural areas where it is used for being an excellent hunter of mice, it allows the inhabitants of those zones to maintain their cabins free of rodents, it is badly called mining cat when this is not family of the felines.
It is very easy to confuse it with the Madagascar ringed tail lemur, or with the ringed tail cat and even with the genet.
Personally, I am not in favor of the domestication of wild animals, since it represents a serious threat to humans as well as to the animals themselves, who are taken out of their habitat, considerably reducing their total population, and even if they reproduce in captivity, it is playing with the evolution of millions of years.
Examples like the dog and cat that were domesticated from wild specimens like the wolf or the lynx, has brought with it a transformation that although they are beautiful for many, in my opinion, is a serious incursion into genetics.
Thank you for reading
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