Express & Star

Zoo releases footage of five-week-old baby bearcat snoring

A young bearcat, or binturong, arrived at Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio after being moved from Nashville Zoo in Tennessee.

Published
The baby bearcat

A zoo has posted a video online of a baby bearcat snoring after taking delivery of the five-week-old female.

The unnamed bearcat, or binturong, was moved to Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio after being born at Nashville Zoo in Tennessee in September.

The youngster will grow up to become a GoBearcats live mascot for the University of Cincinnati (UC) athletics department.

Posting the video of the sleeping animal to Facebook, the zoo said: “Sound on to hear the baby bearcat snoring.”

Amanda Chambers, associate curator of interpretive animals at the zoo, said: “The baby will receive care, TLC, and ambassador training in the zoo’s ambassador centre until she is ready to venture out.

“We hope to get her up to UC to make her Fifth Third Arena debut in the second half of the 2019-20 season.

“Prior to that, we’ll work on getting her accustomed to the sights and sounds that she will encounter off site. She has already been exposed to (the university colours) black and red!”

The baby bearcat currently weighs in at 2.2lb (around 1kg), with the average adult weighing 20lb to 40lb (around 9kg to 18kg).

Cincinnati Zoo and UC are currently asking for suggestions for names for the baby on Facebook and Twitter.

The new bearcat is a subspecies known as a Palawan binturong, which is native to an island of the same name in the Philippines.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.