Mammals
Binturong
Arctictis binturong · also called bearcat, Asian bearcat
The binturong is a large, black, shaggy animal of the Southeast Asian rainforest canopy with a face like a cat, a body like a small bear, a tail that works like a hand, and — most memorably — a smell exactly like a movie theatre.
Overview
Binturongs live in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, from the eastern Himalaya through Indochina to the islands of Sumatra, Borneo, and Java. They are arboreal, spending most of their lives in the mid and upper canopy, and are active by day and night, moving slowly and deliberately along branches. They are largely solitary but not strongly territorial, and several may feed in the same fruiting tree.
The popcorn animal
The binturong’s most famous feature is its scent. Its urine is rich in 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, the same aroma compound as popped popcorn and cooked fragrant rice, and because the animal marks as it walks, the smell coats its fur and permeates its surroundings. It functions as a territorial and identity signal — other binturongs can read who has passed and how recently.
Body and diet
The binturong is one of the largest members of the civet family, and one of the few adapted to a life in the trees. Its fully prehensile tail can bear its entire weight, letting it hang, reach, and use the tail as a fifth limb. Its diet is dominated by fruit, especially figs, supplemented by leaves, eggs, small animals, fish, and carrion.
Reproduction
Binturongs are among the few carnivores able to control the timing of pregnancy through delayed implantation, so that young are born when food is plentiful. A female raises one to three cubs, which stay with her for several months.
The forest’s gardener
The binturong is a keystone seed disperser. Strangler fig seeds have coats so tough that few animals can pass them in a germinable state — the binturong’s digestive system is one that can. By eating figs and scattering viable seeds through the forest, it helps sustain the fig trees that feed a huge share of rainforest wildlife.
Threats and conservation
The binturong is Vulnerable and declining. Deforestation for oil palm, logging, and agriculture is shrinking and fragmenting its canopy habitat; it is hunted for bushmeat, for the exotic-pet trade, and for use in traditional medicine; and it is caught in snares set for other animals. Protecting large tracts of connected rainforest — and the fig trees within them — is the key to its future.
Binturong: common questions
Why does a binturong smell like popcorn?
Its urine contains 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, the very same volatile compound that forms when popcorn is popped and that gives freshly cooked basmati and jasmine rice its characteristic smell. The binturong produces it in its urine (bacteria in the urinary tract may be involved), and because the animal urinates as it walks and often squats in its own urine, the scent gets onto its fur and feet and is spread through the trees as a territorial and social signal. To a person, a binturong or its enclosure smells unmistakably of buttered popcorn.
Is the binturong a bear or a cat?
Neither, despite the nickname "bearcat." It is a viverrid — a member of the civet family — and its closest relatives are the palm civets and genets. It has a bear-like shaggy body and shuffling walk and a cat-like face, but it is not related to either. It is one of the largest civets and, unusually for the family, spends most of its life in the trees.
What is the binturong's tail used for?
Almost everything. It is fully prehensile — it can grip and support the animal's whole weight — making the binturong one of only two Old World carnivores (with the kinkajou's New World counterpart being the other model) able to hang by the tail. The binturong uses it as a fifth limb when climbing among branches, as an anchor while it reaches for fruit, and, in young animals, to dangle and play. The tip has a bare, calloused patch for grip.
Why does the binturong matter to the forest?
It is a keystone seed disperser, especially for strangler figs. Fig seeds have a very tough coat, and few animals' digestive systems can break it down enough for the seed to sprout; the binturong's can. By eating figs high in the canopy and depositing the seeds elsewhere, ready to germinate, it plants the next generation of these ecologically vital trees, which feed countless other rainforest animals. A forest that loses its binturongs loses part of its capacity to regenerate.