Morphological and Morphometrical Studies on the Skull of Binturong (Arctictis binturong)

ABSTRACT

The binturong or bearcat is the largest species of the family Viverridae. It is uncommon in much of its range and has been assessed as vulnerable on the IUCN red list. The size of the head was small, narrow and light in proportion to the body. The skull of the binturong was dolichocephalic as per the cephalic index (56.25). There was no prominent internasal suture and the orbits were incomplete with optic foramen present near the ventral surface. The mean skull length, skull width, skull base length, cranial length, cranial width, cranial height, were 14.95±0.10 cm, 8.47±0.10 cm, 15.07±0.02 cm, 11.16±0.09 cm, 6.56±0.11 cm, 3.16±0.08 cm, respectively. The mean facial length, facial width, maxilla length, maxilla height, distance between infraorbital foramen, diameter of infraorbital foramina, nasal length, nasal width were 4.95±0.08 cm, 6.14±0.12 cm, 4.46±0.01 cm, 3.83±0.02 cm, 4.68±0.10 cm, 0.49±0.07 cm, 2.94±0.03 cm, 1.97±0.11 cm, respectively. Scanty literature available on morphological and morphometrical studies of the skull of binturong. Therefore this present study was aimed to establish a morphometric database that will eventually guide the use of these measurements for diagnosis and treating different disorders