Baby Binturong makes her debut

How cute is this? to kick-start our week, here’s a photo of Indah, a jet black eight-week old baby binturong, a species of civet usually found in the forests of South East Asia. Indah is the first binturong bred in captivity at Taronga Park Zoo (Sydney, Australia) since the species went on display there in the 1950s.

Binturongs are tree-dwelling nocturnal animals and often called bearcats due to their bear-like faces. Indah looks like a cross between a kitten, a cute cuddly toy and a bear cub to me. She’s just been introduced to her enclosure and is exploring it like any wide-eyed baby animal. Indah love grapes apparently and she should grow to the size of a large house cat (mmm…wonder whether I could have one as a pet!).

Binturongs are becoming increasingly rare as their forest habitat is cleared for timber and cropland.Indah means “beautiful” in the Malay language – a very fitting name for such a cutie.

In an earlier post this week, there were some fabulous photos from 100 years ago and some superb nature photos – go check them out if you missed them.