Order membership reflects ancestry, not menu. The kinkajou sits within Carnivora as a member of the raccoon family, yet stomach-content and observational studies place fruit at the great majority of its intake, with nectar, flowers and some invertebrates making up the rest. A tongue that can extend several centimetres reaches nectar deep in flowers and honey in bee nests.
The prehensile tail is the more unusual feature. Grasping tails are common in New World monkeys and some marsupials but almost absent in carnivorans: the kinkajou and the closely related binturong are the exceptions. The kinkajou's works as a fifth limb, taking the animal's weight while both hands reach for fruit, and it is used as a brace when moving through thin outer branches.
The combination of nocturnal habits, a golden coat, a gripping tail and a fruit diet leads to persistent misidentification as a monkey or a lemur, and the animal's other common name, honey bear, adds a second wrong lineage. Its role as a pollinator is plausible and often asserted, but the pollen it actually transfers between plants has not been measured.