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Today’s kinkajous are used to life in the trees. They spend nearly all of their time there. They have long, flexible tails and 5-inch-long tongues that do a masterful job at extracting honey from beehives. To survive a partially flooded and hot rainforest, kinkajous would adapt to use the water to their advantage. How? Let’s take a look at what might happen. One million years later… A kinkajou is in a tree. The species has stayed that way for approximately one million years. But this kinkajou has different traits than its ancestors. It leaps down from its tree and grabs a tree trunk with its tail and slides into the water. It dunks its head in. A film on its eyes prevents water from entering and irritating the eyeball. It extends its tongue and licks up a fish. It coils its tail, pulling away from the current, and reaches land.