Banded Palm Civet

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Banded Palm Civet
Conservation status
Least concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Viverridae Subfamily: Hemigalinae Genus: Hemigalus Species: H. derbyanus
Binomial name
Hemigalus derbyanus (Gray, 1837)

The Banded Palm Civet (Hemigalus derbyanus) is a civet.

The banded palm civet is found in the tall forests from south Burma, to the Malay peninsula, to Borneo, Sumatra, and the Mentawai Islands. Though they live in the forests, they spend much of their time on the ground.

The banded palm civet has a long pointed face, reminiscent of insectivorous mammals. They have a long body set on short legs, and five toes on each foot, that has retractable claws. They look very similar to the Owston's Palm Civet (Chrotogale owstoni), except that they lack spots on their body, and the hair on ther neck goes against the grain. They have short, dense fur that is generally a dark cream/buff color with four to five dark bands on their back. Their tail has two dark bands and the latter half of the tail is dark brown to black. There is a dark brown stripe that extends down the length of the top of the muzzle, and two stripes that extend from the top middle of the eye to the inside corner of the ears. There are two areas of white above and below each eye, and the muzzle is darker than the rest of the face.