Bearcat

THE binturong looks like a cross between a cat and a bear, but it is neither! It has a bewhiskered feline face, a bushy tail and a body covered with shaggy hair like a bear. It is related to Asian palm civets and African genets and fossas but not to bears.

- Jayanthi Mahalingam

This strange-looking rarely-seen mammal is found in the rainforest canopy throughout South and Southeast Asia, including in northeastern India. It has a very thick and muscular prehensile tail. The binturong uses its tail as a fifth limb for support when climbing trees and also to hang upside down from branches. Since binturongs spend most of their time in the trees, they also have padded paws and long claws to help them grip branches. They can turn their ankles 180 degrees to grip the bark when clambering down a tree headfirst!

Binturongs tend to shamble like bears when they walk flat-footed on the ground, which they don’t do very often.