One of the exotic creatures of Malaysia is the Binturong or Bear Cat, a nocturnal creature with dark fur and whiskers like a cat. These creatures eat fruits and are very gentle. It is difficult to see these shy creatures in the wild as they are only active at night time and they live deep in the forest.

Throughout the MATA Team journey around Malaysia, we have seen Binturongs being kept in animal wildlife parks in Bukit Merah Laketown in Perak and in Sarawak, at Taman Buaya, Kuala Baram in Miri.

The Binturongs in Bukit Merah Laketown are quite tame and will go on any visitors that dare to come close to them. The photos below show a tame Bear Cat from the Laketown:

Unfortunately, the Binturongs are getting more and more extinct as their natural habitat - the tropical rainforest dwindles every year due to logging operations and development.

As mentioned above, most visitors to Malaysia can only get to see a live Bear Cat at wildlife sanctuaries or parks as these creatures are becoming rare and usually come out at night.

If you've never seen a Bear Cat, you'd probably not love it, but once you've seen one climbing trees and playing, you'd learn to appreciate the majesty of this feline bear. Well, hopefully more will be done to preserve the Binturong because it will be ashame if they become extinct forever.