{"id":875639,"date":"2026-06-18T10:27:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/875639\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T10:27:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T10:27:31","slug":"baby-bintlets-at-san-diego-zoo-first-new-bearcats-in-over-25-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/875639\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby bintlets at San Diego Zoo, first new bearcats in over 25 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>For the first time in more than 25 years, the San Diego Zoo saw the birth of two binturongs, also known as bearcats. <\/p>\n<p>Zoo officials made the announcement in a recent <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DZc4pkRgfnL\/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Instagram post<\/a> that included a video of the little mammals known for their distinct scent of buttered popcorn. <\/p>\n<p>The zoo said in its post that the new arrivals, also known as binlets, were born in late March to first-time parents Nettle and Garret. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood things come in two,\u201d the post read. \u201cThese liddol ones are currently spending quality family time behind the scenes while mom keeps busy with round-the-clock cuddle puddles, grooming and care.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Binturongs are known as bearcats because they have a face like a cat and a body like a bear. They owe their movie-theater aroma to their urine, which gets on their padded paws and tail, according to zoo officials.<\/p>\n<p>            <img class=\"image\" alt=\"The binturong babies were born in late March. The species has a distinctive odor, like buttered popcorn.\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781778451_463_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>The binturong babies were born in late March. The species has a distinctive odor, like buttered popcorn.<\/p>\n<p>(San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance)<\/p>\n<p>They can grow to the size of a medium dog and have shaggy black hair, making them look like large dust mops. They have stiff white whiskers and a prehensile tail that\u2019s as long as their body.<\/p>\n<p>Zoo officials said binturongs live in dense tropical and subtropical rainforests of South and Southeast Asia. They spend a lot of their time in trees, eating fruit, vegetables, leaves and birds, among other things. <\/p>\n<p>Binturongs are a vulnerable species; they face threats from habitat destruction, poaching for traditional Asian medicines, and the fur and pet trade.<\/p>\n<p>Officials said their vulnerability is what makes the recent births at the zoo more special. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a tree-mendous win for the future of this vulnerable species and supports conservation efforts both here and in their native habitats,\u201d the social media post read. <\/p>\n<p> <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time in more than 25 years, the San Diego Zoo saw the birth of two&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":875640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,355903,355902,91055,4637,1582,276,6803,114256,43276,464,3549,11414,7264,286770,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,16576,355905,1628,355904,66978],"class_list":["post-875639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-bearcat","tag-binturong","tag-birth","tag-body","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-first-time","tag-other-thing","tag-popcorn","tag-post","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-zoo","tag-sandiego","tag-tail","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-vegetable","tag-vulnerable-specie","tag-year","tag-zoo-baby","tag-zoo-official"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116770640614724845","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}