PALAWAN BEARCAT

(Arctictis binturong) Vulnerable If the Palawan bearcat is hunted, it is usually for their pelts, or for medicinal or food purposes, reported Xtian Mack in a 2012 article published in Vigattin Tourism. It seems that they don’t do well in logged forests or altered environments, and neither do they do well when next to substantial amounts of human activity.

They are neither bears nor cats, or even anything in between, according to a 2013 article by Mary Bates for Wired.com. They are actually related to civets. Their other name, binturong, was coined from a language that has disappeared, so it’s not known what that name really means. Bearcats are so named because they have a walking gait similar to how bears move around.

Bearcats are usually the size of a small dog but they can reach up to 51 pounds in weight, with a length of 38 inches for the head and body. Their thick fur is coarse and black but it also has silverywhite tips at times, giving the animal a grizzly look. It has, surprisingly, a prehensile tail. Small eyes and ears round out its basic look, with the females usually being slightly larger than the males.

These solitary creatures are usually active at night and are thought to eat anything they can find edible, such as eggs, shoots, fruits, and even fish. They usually stay up in the branches of rainforests. And by the way, they do smell like popcorn!