🌏 Asia
Binturong
Image: Wikipedia
Meet the Animal
The binturong is a wonderfully unusual animal - part bear, part cat, part monkey - that smells exactly like warm buttered popcorn! This is because of a special chemical in their urine that coats their fur. Their long, muscular tail is fully prehensile, acting like a fifth limb to grip branches as they move through the rainforest.
Where in the World
Continent: Asia
Countries:
Habitat
Tropical and subtropical rainforest
Diet
Omnivore
Classification
- ↳Kingdom:Animalia
- ↳Class:Mammalia
- ↳Order:Carnivora
- ↳Family:Viverridae
- ↳Common:Mammal / Bearcat
Appearance
Shaggy black fur with silver-tipped guard hairs, a long heavily furred prehensile tail, small tufted ears, and long white whiskers. Stocky bear-like body with cat-like face.
Size: 9–20 kg; 60–95 cm body length
Young Ones
Called Cub
1–6 cubs are born after a 90-day pregnancy. Mothers carry cubs in their mouths. Fathers are unusually involved in raising young. Cubs stay with family for up to a year.
Behaviour
One of the few carnivores with a fully prehensile tail - used as a fifth limb for climbing. Smells strongly of buttered popcorn due to a chemical in their urine called 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. Slow moving but powerful. Also called 'bearcats'.
🎉 Fun Facts
🍿 Binturongs smell exactly like warm buttered popcorn.
🐒 Their prehensile tail works like a fifth hand for climbing.
🐻🐱 They're called 'bearcats' - but are related to neither bears nor cats.
🌱 They are one of the only animals that can digest strangler fig seeds.
👨 Father binturongs unusually help raise their cubs.