Binturongs, or bearcats, are large arboreal civets native to South and Southeast Asian forests. Their nocturnal, solitary, and climbing-dependent lifestyle creates specific challenges for zoo welfare management that require careful habitat and husbandry design.
Binturongs in zoo settings require significant arboreal complexity — tall enclosures with robust climbing structures, platforms, and resting spots at height allow expression of their natural locomotor behaviour. Forcing nocturnal animals into daytime activity through visitor pressure or lighting regimes causes chronic stress and disrupts natural behaviour patterns. Providing darkened resting areas where animals can retreat and maintaining appropriate temperature and humidity for tropical forest species are essential. Their territorial scent-marking behaviour should be accommodated rather than suppressed through excessive cleaning. Small population sizes in zoological collections mean genetic management through Species Survival Plans is critical for long-term captive population viability.