The binturong, also known as bearcat, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It has been assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of a declining population trend. It occurs from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia to Laos, Vietnam and China.
About Binturong in brief
The binturong, also known as bearcat, is a viverrid native to South and Southeast Asia. It has been assessed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because of a declining population trend that is estimated at more than 30% since the mid 1980s. The name Arctictis means ‘bear-weasel’, from Greek arkt- ‘bear’ + iktis ‘weasel’ In Riau, Indonesia it was known as tenturun. It is long and heavy, with short, stout legs. The eyes are large, black and prominent. The ears are short, rounded, edged with white, and terminated by tufts of black hair. There are six short rounded incisors in each jaw, two canines, which are long and sharp, and six molars on each side. Both sexes have scent glands; females on either side of the vulva, and males between the scrotum and penis. The musk glands emit an odor reminiscent of popcorn or corn chips, likely due to the volatile compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline in the urine, which is also produced in the Maillard reaction at high temperatures.
It occurs from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia to Laos, Vietnam and China, and from Sumatra, Kalimantan in Indonesia to the Philippines. In Assam, it is common in foothills and hills with good tree cover, but less so in the forested plains of Manung. It was first described by Thomas Stamford Raffles in 1822. The genus ArctICTis is a monotypic taxon; its morphology is similar as of the genera Paradoxurus and Paguma. Some captive bintuongs measured from 76 cm to 91 cm in head and body with a tail of 71 cm. Mean weight of captive adult females is 21. 9 kg with a range from 11 to 32 kg. Captive animals often weigh more than wild counterparts. The tail is nearly as long as the head andBody, which ranges from 71 to 84 cm ; the tail is 66 to 69 cm long. The body hairs are frequently partly whitish or buff, giving a speckled appearance to the pelage, sometimes so pale that the whole body is mostly straw-coloured or grey.
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This page is based on the article Binturong published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 03, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
