+
upworthy
Science

Zoo in Michigan proudly welcomes the arrival of two adorable baby bintlets

Great news! What's a bintlet?

bintlets potter park zoo, potter park zoo facebook, potter park zoo instagram

A dose of cuteness the world needs to see.

Michigan’s Potter Park Zoo was thrilled to announce the arrival of some new residents this year: bintlets.

Um, just what is a bintlet, you may ask? Binturongs (the adult version of a bintlet) are fascinating creatures hailing from the rainforests of Southeast Asia, where they love to hang out in the lush treetops. It’s one of the few animals with a prehensile tail, meaning it can hold and manipulate objects.

Binturong: The bearcat that is neither bear nor cat.www.youtube.com

Though they are often called bearcats due to their hodgepodge appearance, binturongs are neither bear nor cat. They belong to the Viverridae family, a very unique species group containing all seemingly cat-like critters, though none are actually felines. According to Brittanica, they have even been reported to be affectionate pets, much like the domestic house cat. But still—not cats. Very misleading.



Also: The binturong’s teeth technically classify it as a carnivore. However, it might as well be classified as a fig-atarian, the way it likes to swallow the small fruit whole. Yeah … they’re basically a walking contradiction on four legs.

Perhaps the coolest thing about binturongs: Getting up close and personal with one might have you thinking you waltzed into a movie theater. They mark their territory by secreting a substance that famously smells just like buttery popcorn. Nature’s creativity is endless.

Threatened mostly by deforestation and illegal wildlife trade, binturongs have been listed as “vulnerable” on IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. That makes the birth of Potter Park’s bintlets—the first bintlet birth at the zoo in more than two decades, WILX News reported—all the more special. Baby animal news is great. At-risk baby animal news is even better.

Potter Park posted to its Facebook page congratulating Thistle, the zoo’s female binturong, on her newborns. WILX added that where Thistle would remain with the bintlets for a few months time, the binturong father (named Barry … Barry the binturong, it’s just too perfect) will still be viewable at the zoo’s habitat.

Officials added that sadly, only two of three bintlets made it, due to sickness. Despite 24 hours of care from veterinary and animal care staff, the third bintlet passed away. Still, in the video we see two healthy, squeaking babes right next to their happy mama.

"Love how the mom looks right at the camera like she is saying aren’t my babies the cutest babies ever," one person commented.

And now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for—close up photos revealing all the bintlet cuteness.

binturongs, baby binturongs

100% adorable.

scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net

OMG. A baby bintlet in a baby bathtub. To what do we owe this pleasure?

This one has its little eyes open.

potter park zoo,

Sooooo teeny!

scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net

According to Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, bintlets are born with their eyes closed and will cling to their mothers until independent. Sometimes for even longer. Relatable.

Special thanks to Potter Park Zoo and Thistle for delivering some happy news to get us through the week. We got a sweet story and fun animal education—it doesn’t get much better than that.

If you’d like to check in on all the animal shenanigans happening at Potter Park, you can follow the zoo on Instagram here. With more than 350 residents of all sizes and species, there’s sure to be no shortage of wholesome critter content.

True

After over a thousand years of peaceful relations, European semi-superpowers Sweden and Switzerland may finally address a lingering issue between the two nations. But the problem isn’t either country’s fault. The point is that the rest of the world can’t tell them apart. They simply don’t know their kroppkakor (Swedish potato dumpling) from their birchermüesli (a Swiss breakfast dish).

This confusion on the European continent has played out in countless ways.

Swedish people who move to the United States often complain of being introduced as Swiss. The New York Stock Exchange has fallen victim to the confusion, and a French hockey team once greeted their Swiss opponents, SC Bern, by playing the Swedish National Anthem and raising the Swedish flag.

Skämtar du med mig? (“Are you kidding me?” in Swedish)

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

Mom comes out to her 7-year-old as a sexual assault survivor. The discomfort was worth it.

Sometimes speaking our truth can help history from repeating itself.

Canva

Almost all the important conversations are uncomfortable

Sarah Shanley Hope's story is frighteningly common.

As a kid, she went over to her neighbor's house one day to play with her best friend. While there, her friend's older brother sexually assaulted both of them.

Hope was only 6 years old.

Keep ReadingShow less
All images by Rebecca Cohen, used with permission.

Here’s a thought.

Self proclaimed feminist killjoy Rebecca Cohen is a cartoonist based in Berkeley, California.

Here’s what she has to say about her role as an artist taken from her Patreon page.

Keep ReadingShow less

It all can happen at just the right time.

Media outlets love to compile lists of impressive people under a certain age. They laud the accomplishments of fresh-faced entrepreneurs, innovators, influencers, etc., making the rest of us ooh and ahh wonder how they got so far so young.

While it's great to give credit where it's due, such early-life success lists can make folks over a certain age unnecessarily question where we went wrong in our youth—as if dreams can't come true and successes can't be had past age 30.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mental Health

The danger of high-functioning depression as told by a college student

Overachievers can struggle with mental health issues, too.


I first saw a psychiatrist for my anxiety and depression as a junior in high school.

During her evaluation, she asked about my coursework. I told her that I had a 4.0 GPA and had filled my schedule with pre-AP and AP classes. A puzzled look crossed her face. She asked about my involvement in extracurricular activities. As I rattled off the long list of groups and organizations I was a part of, her frown creased further.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Her boyfriend asked her to draw a comic about their relationship. Hilarity ensued.

The series combines humor and playful drawings with spot-on depictions of the intense familiarity that long-standing coupledom often brings.

All images by Catana Chetwynd


"It was all his idea."

An offhand suggestion from her boyfriend of two years coupled with her own lifelong love of comic strips like "Calvin and Hobbes" and "Get Fuzzy" gave 22-year-old Catana Chetwynd the push she needed to start drawing an illustrated series about long-term relationships.

Specifically, her own relationship.

Keep ReadingShow less