Binturong or Palawan Bearcat - Philippine Wildlife Art

Cute illustration of a Binturong or Palawan Bearcat

Have you ever heard of the Palawan binturong? It’s a big, furry animal that loves living in trees. It’s also known as the Palawan bearcat, but it’s not really a bear or a cat. It’s its own unique animal!

They are more closely related to civets, and can be found in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines they can only be found in Palawan (though one was found in Sulu) (G Veron 2019). They spend most of their lives in the trees (aka they are arboreal), and eat small insects and fruits.

In a study by Myka Allam et al in 2022, Binturong in a certain area in Palawan seemed to love figs. Since Binturongs are also known to speed up germination of fig seeds after pooping them, Palawan Binturong might also be important to fig or ficus seed dispersal!

Another interesting thing about Binturong is that they smell like… popcorn! For sometime biologists wondered why they smelled like buttered popcorn. They found out that it was because of something not as appetizing… binturong pee and its importance in finding mates.

Binturong urine has a compound called 2-AP, the same compound produced when popping popcorn (LK Green et al 2016).

Celebrate this newfound knowledge with this free printable A4 coloring page of Binturong throwing popcorn. Or buy an artprint here!