Why Do Bearcats Smell Like Popcorn?If you were to travel deep into the forests of Southeast Asia, yo

Why Do Bearcats Smell Like Popcorn?If you were to travel deep into the forests of Southeast Asia, you might find your nose suddenly confused by the familiar but incongruous scent of buttery movie theater popcorn. It’s not a cinema hiding behind the next grove of trees; you may have just crossed paths with a binturong.The binturong, or bearcat as it is sometimes called because of its odd looks, is a member of the civet family that is found in Southeast Asia and parts of Indonesia and the Philippines. A tree-dweller with a long, stocky body, the binturong is the only carnivorous mammal besides the kinkajou with a prehensile tail. Most curious about this shy creature is that it smells exactly like freshly popped popcorn, according to zookeepers and those who study the animal. The smell comes from the binturong’s urine, which the animal uses to mark its territory and to attract mates. The binturong urinates while squatting in a way that soaks their long tails, which then leave a scent trail as the tail drags behind. The smell is potent, and only gets stronger over time (as the scientists found out for themselves when a frozen sample that was sent out for analysis apparently sat on hot tarmac for awhile due to a delayed flight). Last year, researchers found out why the scents are so similar: they identified the chemical compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, or 2-AP, as the common ingredient in a set of binturong urine samples. 2-AP is the same compound found in popcorn and in other foods like toasted bread or cooked rice that have a roasted smell; typically, the compound is formed under high heat, and isn’t present in popcorn until after the kernels have popped. There was no 2-AP found in the binturongs’ diet, so the researchers hypothesize that the compound is being formed when urine interacts with bacteria in the animals’ skin, fur, or gut; microbial action would also help explain the long-lasting scent effects.-CELSources: http://bit.ly/2lYYkXDhttp://bit.ly/1dymY5YImage: author -- source link
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