Meet the Animal Park's Binturongs

NATIVE RANGE

Binturongs are found throughout Southeast Asia, China, and in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and northeastern India, primarily in rainforest areas. They are considered vulnerable, with a population loss of more than 30 percent over three decades.

DIET

They are classified as carnivores but eat almost anything, mainly fruits but also vegetables, birds, small mammals, and fish.

BEHAVIOR

The binturong is generally a solitary and nocturnal animal (with some variation), sleeping high in the rainforest canopy, and they love to bask in the sun.

FASCINATING FACTS

• Binturongs have a very distinctive smell—that of buttered popcorn or corn chips. The scent serves a purpose in the wild: to let other binturongs know they’re trespassing on someone else’s territory and to discourage would-be predators.
• Binturongs are considered a keystone species due to their important role in their habitat: spreading the seeds of the strangler fig, one of the main trees that make up the rainforest canopy. The binturong is one of just a few mammals here with digestive enzymes capable of softening the tough outer covering of the fig’s seeds. They eat the fruit and pass the seed in a pile of “fertilizer,” helping a new tree sprout.
• Only two carnivorous mammals have a prehensile tail: binturongs and kinkajous.