TALLAHASSEE – The Tallahassee Museum will unveil one of its most unusual wildlife additions to date when binturongs make their public debut.
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The Tallahassee Museum will unveil one of its most unusual wildlife additions to date when binturongs, rare Southeast Asian mammals known for their playful and curious behaviors, make their public debut on Saturday, December 20.
These captivating tree-dwelling animals, often called “bearcats” for their bear-like face and cat-like body, are neither bears nor cats; they come from the family Viverridae. This family dates back 40-50 million years, and these animals closely resemble the ancestors of modern carnivores. To make things more interesting, they are in the order of Carnivora but are actually omnivores who eat mostly fruit.
The binturongs’ most remarkable characteristic is immediately noticeable: they naturally smell like freshly buttered popcorn, a scent produced by a gland beneath their tail. This unusual trait, combined with their prehensile tails, makes them one of the animal kingdom’s most intriguing species…