Monito del monte

The monito del monte (Spanish for "little monkey of the mount") or colocolo opossum, (Dromiciops gliroides) is a small mammal that lives in South America.  It is also called chumaihuén in Mapudungun.  It is a marsupial, meaning it grows its young in a pouch like a possum or kangaroo. It lives only in Argentina and Chile. It is the only living species in the order Microbiotheria. It is the only animal in the superorder Australidelphia that lives in the New World. (All other New World marsupials are in the paraphyletic "Ameridelphia.") The species is active at night and lives in trees.  Its tail is partially able to grab things. It lives in places where South American mountain bamboo grows close together in the Valdivian temperate rain forests of the southern Andes Mountains.  It eats primarily insects and other small animals without bones, but it also eats fruit.

References

Category:Marsupials of South America