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Family Viverridae
Subfamily Paradoxurinae
(Binturong and Palm Civets)

Binturong Arctictis binturong Raffles, 1821

Distribution

It is distributed in eastern Himalayas from Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Assam eastward in Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh (Pocock 1939, Choudhury 1997a,b, Datta 1999, Jha 1999), Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia as far as the Philippines (Pocock 1939, Medway 1978, Corbet & Hill 1992).

Description

In general the binturong is essentially like Paradoxurus and Paguma but larger in size having a much coarser and shaggy coat. The general coat colour is blackish or very dark brown with pale tipped hair giving a speckled appearance to the pelage. The head is deeply speckled and greyish, especially in the juveniles. The vibrissae are long, conspicuously white, and the edge of the pinnae are white with a tuft of hair, otherwise black. The tail is prehensile with thick fur and its colour similar to the body but paler at the base beneath. The tail is little shorter than the head and body. The length of the head and body varies between 610 to 965 mm, the tail length is between 560-890 mm and body weight around 9 to 14 kg.

The Indian subspecies is A. binturong albifrons Cuvier, 1822 (Pocock 1939).

Behaviour

It lives mostly in mature forests. It is primarily arboreal, largely nocturnal and solitary. It is often seen in small groups with immature offspring. It is said to be omnivorous, eating fruits and shoots, insects, birds and small mammals. There are reports of it catching fish (Harrison 1952, Ogilvie 1958). In captivity it is very vocal. The gestation period is around 92 days (Gensch 1963) with litter size of 1-2. Weaning occurs after eight weeks. Longest recorded life span in captivity is 18 years and one month (Jones 1968).

Conservation status

It is listed in Schedule I part I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Appendix III of CITES, and DD during CAMP Workshop.

| Introduction | Mustelids | Viverrids | Herpestids | 
| Conservation Significance | References |