THE BINTURONG. 
Artictis binturong. 
Plate X. 
A fine male specimen of the Binturong was presented to the Zoological Society in 1855, by Mrs. Samuel 
Rawson, and lived in good health nearly eleven years in the Gardens. It is believed to have been the only 
example of this scarce animal ever exhibited alive in Europe. 
The Binturong was discovered in Malacca by Major Farquhar, about the year 1819. It was first described 
by Sir Stamford Raffles in a Memoir on the Zoology of Sumatra, which was read before the Linnean Society 
in 1820, and is printed in the thirteenth volume of their “ Transactions.” Sir Stamford Raffles referred the 
Binturong to the Civet-cats ( Viverra ), to which it is certainly allied, but it may perhaps, be more naturally 
arranged near the Kinkajou ( Cercoleptes ), within the confines of the family of the Bears ( Ursidce ). 
The Binturong is an animal with a long heavy body and slouching gait, more or less noctural in its 
habits. It seldom moves about much during the day time, but remains coiled up and covered with its long 
bushy tail, somewhat after the manner of the Great Ant-eater. It is a native of Sumatra and the Malayan 
peninsula, but ranges northwards through the Burmese countries, as far as Assam and Nepal, whence 
specimens have been transmitted by Mr. Brian Hodgson. 
