THE BINTURONG.[89]
This is a curious little animal, of a black colour, with a white border to its ears, a large head and turned-up nose, and a long, immensely thick, tapering tail, which, remarkably enough, is prehensile,like that of a New World Monkey. It is twenty-eight to thirty inches long from snout to root of tail, and the tail itself is nearly of the same length. It is sometimes called the “black Bear Cat.”
“It is slow and crouching. In its habits it is quite nocturnal, solitary, and arboreal, creeping along the large branches, and aiding itself by its prehensile tail. It is omnivorous, eating small animals, birds, insects, fruit, and plants. It is more wild and retiring than Viverrine animals in general, and it is easily tamed; its howl is loud.” It walks entirely on the soles of its feet, and its claws are not retractile. It ranges from Nepaul to Sumatra and Java.
BINTURONG.
BINTURONG.
Altogether the Binturong is a decidedly interesting animal, and has been a great puzzle to zoologists. It was formerly placed in the Racoon family, to many of the members of which it bears a very strong resemblance; but this resemblance is quite superficial, and brought about by the similarity in the mode of life, &c. In the characters of the skull and teeth, it undoubtedly belongs where we have placed it, among the Civet group. Thus it forms a capital warning to those zoologists whose knowledge is only skin-deep, and who group animals entirely by their external character, without taking into account the important points of fundamental structure, which should in every case be considered first.[90]