Bassariscus sumichrasti is a hard-to-spot little mammal that some people consider adorable and others dismiss as a big jungle rat. Those are the opinions of few Ticos, since this mammal is nocturnal, extremely shy, and only inhabits a small area of Costa Rica. What is interesting about cacomistles is that they are extremely dependent on their forest habitat and very sensitive to any environmental changes. They are not survivors by any means, but their small population in Costa Rica does not face conservation challenges.

Cacomistle is a term borrowed from the Nahuatl language of the indigenous Aztec Empire in Central Mexico. They are members of the Procyonidae family, which means that in Costa Rica they are cousins of the pizotes, the martillas, two types of raccoons, and the olingos.

These mammals are omnivorous, and although they may look like giant jungle rats, they actually prey on small forest rats. They otherwise have the same fruit diet as the pizotes. In terms of survival, they have to watch out for manigordos (ocelots) and snakes. Cacomistles are not endemic to Costa Rica, as they can be found in the neotropics from Mexico all the way south to Panama.

The few cacomistles in Costa Rica live in the highland forests where the Central and Talamanca mountainous ranges meet, close to the area where searchers are currently looking for the remains of the doomed TC-48 flight from the Argentinian Air Force. They enjoy the most humid areas of our forests, and they can be found in the Barva sector of the Braulio Carrillo National Park. Males and females are not cohabitants; they live far from each other and often travel several hectares to mate. Females deliver a litter of about two to four cubs, and they keep them in nests located in tree trunks (good luck to those trying to find them).

Vesper rat is probably not a good name to refer to the cacomistles. There are other Mexican and Central American jungle rodents that go by that name, including Nyctomys sumichrasti, but they are not subspecies of the cacomistles and are further removed genetically.