Everyone has a favorite color, a favorite season, a favorite food, and a favorite animal. Just like everything else in life, this changes as you get older.
When I was little, I was on Team Koala. I loved how they sat in trees, always looked like they were giving hugs, and how cuddly and soft they are.
Now, however, I am fully on Team Binturong. Actually, when I revealed to my best friend that I had a new favorite animal, a binturong, they asked, “What’s a binturong?”
Then, I started looking up pictures to send to them and they were so cute, I decided to also share them with you.
It’s also known as a bear cat, which seems pretty appropriate because they look like a cross between a bear and a cat.
While nicknamed a “bearcat,” they are actually most closely related to civets, a small nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa.
They naturally smell like buttered popcorn! This is way better than my dog, who naturally smells like wet dog food and dirt.
They sleep like little monorails.
Their long whiskers make them feel trustworthy.
This one looks like it needs a little scratch under the chin.
They have a prehensile tail! “Prehensile” means it can function like another hand and wrap, grab, and grip.
Apparently, kid binturongs just chill out hanging in trees by their tails. What a way to spend the afternoon!
Their ankles can turn 180º to safely scale up and down trees. In contrast, I broke my ankle two months ago jumping on a trampoline because I have the intuition of a 7-year-old.
Female binturongs can control when they have their babies. This means they can wait for favorable weather conditions to start the baby-growing process and give birth when it’s nice out!
They’re one of the few animals whose stomachs are powerful enough to digest the tough outer skin of a strangler fig’s fruit. They’re critical in the spread of strangler fig seeds via their poop. Strangler figs are essential to the forest canopy.
“Thanks, binturongs!” — strangler figs (probably)
Baby binturongs are called binlets!
They are considered carnivores, but really just eat whatever they want, like plants, fruit, eggs, small mammals, etc.
They chuckle when they’re happy!
They make a high-pitched wail when they’re bothered.
And their conservation status is vulnerable because of habitat loss and the illegal pet trade, which makes me want to high-pitched wail.
So I don’t want one, but I do want one of those very cliché posters of a sleeping binturong with a saying next to it like “I’ll get to it tomorrow.”
Anyway, there you go. More than you ever wanted to know about an animal you’ve never heard of.
Now, please do me a favor: I would like you to comment the cutest, most obscure animal you can think of so I can go down a rabbit hole about them. Ready? Go!
