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The Impact Of Gut Passage By Binturongs (Arctictus Binturong) On Seed Germination, Christina P. Colon, Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz
The Impact Of Gut Passage By Binturongs (Arctictus Binturong) On Seed Germination, Christina P. Colon, Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz
Publications and Research
Binturongs (Arctictis binturong) are the largest of Asian civets and, due to their highly frugivorous diet, are expected to play an important role in seed dispersal processes. To study the effect of binturong gut passage on seed viability, we fed 10 captive binturongs with fruits of longan (Dimocarpus longan), papaya (Carica papaya) and chiku (Manilkara zapota), collected the seeds they defaecated, and planted these to determine seed germination rate and time. Of the defaecated seeds, 90.4% passed through binturong gut intact in under nine hours, and 99.4% passed in under 33 hours. Chiku seeds had the highest germination rate (35.7% …