We all know—and love—that cats make biscuits, and we even have archaeological evidence that such feline biscuit making occurred 1200 years ago! But I bet you didn't know that binturongs—those adorable creatures that WIRED describes as having "a face like a cat, a body like a small bear, and a tail like a monkey"—also make biscuits?
I had no idea until I discovered Wilbur, a binturong who lives at the Nashville Zoo, who got caught in the middle of an adorable biscuit-making session. He's so cute, kneading his soft black and red stuffy to his little heart's content, creating the absolutely perfect nest. Apparently binturongs smell like buttered popcorn, which I guess goes perfectly with their biscuit-making ways.
Not only do binturongs make biscuits, they also purr like cats, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo, which describes some of the sounds binturongs make:
They are noisy creatures. They can snort, chuckle or even purr when they are pleased or content. They signal displeasure, fear or aggression with cat-like screams, hisses, low grunts and howls.
WIRED provides some more facts about the binturong, also known as a "bearcat":
Binturongs have long, low, stocky bodies covered with coarse, shaggy black fur tipped in gray, so they sometimes appear speckled. Long ear tufts protrude from their small, rounded ears. Their faces have slightly lighter fur and stiff, white whiskers that can reach up to 8 inches long. They're robust animals, growing to be 2-3 feet long (double that if you include the tail) and between 25 and 50 pounds.
Binturongs live in the dense tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia and are not often spotted in the wild. They're currently classified as vulnerable, with populations declining more than 30 percent over the past 30 years. The main threats to binturongs are habitat destruction, hunting, and the wildlife trade.
I can't stop watching Wilbur making biscuits, it's just too darn cute. One commenter on Instagram summed up my feelings about binturongs when they wrote, "I'm just obsessed with these popcorn-smelling babies." Me too, random internet stranger, me too!
If you want to learn more about Wilbur, here's another video showing off the adorable creature—with a focus on his huge prehensile tail. And follow Nashville Zoo on their YouTube or Instagram for even more!