Asian Palm Civet

Asian Palm Civet[1]
juvenile
Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Viverridae
Genus: Paradoxurus
Species: P. hermaphroditus
Binomial name
Paradoxurus hermaphroditus
(Pallas, 1777)

The Asian Palm Civet, is a cat-sized mammal in the family Viverridae native to South-east Asia South India and southern China. It may also be known as the Common Palm Civet, Toddy Cat, Motit, Marapatti, Uguduwa, or Maranai

Contents

Name

The species' scientific name (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), was given in 1777 because both sexes have scent glands underneath the tail that resemble testicles. Civets spray a noxious secretion from these glands.

The species is also commonly known as the Common Palm Civet or the Toddy Cat.

In the Gran Cordillera Central mountain range of northern Philippines, it is called Motit. It is otherwise known in the Philippines as Musang.

In the indigenous language of Malayalam in the state of Kerala in southern India, the Asian Palm Civet is known as a Marapatti or "മരപ്പട്ടി" (which translates as 'Tree-dog' or 'wood-dog'.)

In Sri Lanka, the palm civet is known as Uguduwa in Sinhala, and as Maranai in Tamil (the latter has same meaning as the Malayalam name above).

In Indonesia it is known as 'Luwak', and involved in production of Kopi Luwak, an expensive type of coffee.

Physiology

Size and markings

The Asian Palm Civet averages 3.2 kg (7.1 lb), has a body length of 53 cm (21 in) and a tail length of 48 cm (19 in). Its long, stocky body is covered with coarse, shaggy hair that is usually greyish in color, with black on its feet, ears and muzzle. It has three rows of black markings on its body. The markings on its face resemble a raccoon's. Its tail does not have rings, unlike similar civet species.

Feeding and diet

The Asian Palm Civet is a nocturnal omnivore. Ecologically, they are frequently compared to as filling a similar niche in Asia that the Common Raccoon fills in North America. Its primary food source is fruit such as chiku, mango, rambutan and coffee. It will also eat small mammals and insects.[3] It also has a fondness for palm flower sap (a habit which earns it one of its alternate names the 'toddy cat') which, when fermented, becomes toddy, a sweet liquor. It plays a role in the germination of the Pinanga kuhlii and P. zavana palm tree.[4] It inhabits forests, parks and suburban gardens with mature fruit trees, fig trees and undisturbed vegetation. Its sharp claws allow it to climb trees and house gutters.

Asian Palm civet over a tree

In most parts of Sri Lanka, civets are considered a nuisance since they litter in ceilings and attics of common households, and make loud noises fighting and moving about at night, disturbing the sleep of the householders.

Behavior

Asian Palm Civets perform scent marking using anal glands, urine, and feces. The most common marking behavior is dragging the anal glands on a surface to leave a scent. They are able to identify animal species, sex, and whether the individual who left the scent is known or unknown by smelling an anal scent secretion.[5]

Palm Civets are exclusively nocturnal, usually active between 6:00 pm and 4:00 am, being less active on nights when the moon is brightest.[3]

Dispersion

It is found in southern India, Sri Lanka, South-east Asia and southern China.

Interactions with humans

Oil extract

The oil extracted from small pieces of the meat kept in linseed oil in a closed earthen pot and regularly sunned is used indigenously as a cure for scabies.[6]

Coffee

Kopi Luwak is coffee that is prepared using coffee cherries that have been eaten by the animal, partially digested, and harvested from its feces.

Motit Coffee is coffee prepared from coffee beans harvested from the faeces of the Motit (Philippine Civet). Prices for this delicacy in 2009 ranged from USD$300 in the Philippines, to USD$1400 in the US, per pound weight clean.

SARS

The SARS virus was thought to have entered the human population from masked palm civets captured in the wild and improperly prepared for human consumption.[7] However, a paper by Daniel Janies et al. (February 2008) published by the journal Cladistics, uses evidence from the sequences of many SARS genomes to show that the civets' cases of SARS were just one part of the family tree of SARS viruses in humans – probably humans got SARS from bats, then humans gave it to pigs once and to small civets once, and then these small carnivores may have given the disease back to humans once or twice. All the cases of SARS associated with the outbreak appeared to be part of the bat branch of the coronavirus phylogeny.[8]

Subspecies

There are a significant number of subspecies of this civet:[1]

Gallery

Philippines Civet

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wozencraft, W. Christopher (16 November 2005). "Order Carnivora (pp. 532-628)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 551. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3. 
  2. ↑ Duckworth, J.W., Widmann P., Custodio, C., Gonzalez, J.C., Jennings, A. & Veron, G. (2008). Paradoxurus hermaphroditus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 23 March 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Joshi, Anup R.; James L. David Smith and Francesca J. Cuthbert (Nov., 1995). "Influence of Food Distribution and Predation Pressure on Spacing Behavior in Palm Civets". Journal of Mammalogy (American Society of Mammalogists) 76 (4): 1205–1212. 
  4. ↑ Thohari, M.; Santosa, Y. (9-11 May 1984). "A preliminary study on the role of civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) in the natural regeneration of palms (Pinanga kuhlii and P. zavana) at Gunung Gede-Pangrango National Park, West Java (Indonesia)". Symposium on Forest Regeneration in Southeast Asia. Bogor (Indonesia). 
  5. ↑ Rozhnov, V. V.; Yu. V. Rozhnov (November, 2003). "Roles of Different Types of Excretions in Mediated Communication by Scent Marks of the Common Palm Civet, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus Pallas, 1777 (Mammalia, Carnivora)". Biology Bulletin (MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica) 30 (6): 584–590. doi:10.1023/B:BIBU.0000007715.24555.ed. ISSN 1062-3590. 
  6. ↑ Singh, L. A. K. (1982). "Stomach Contents of a Common Palm Civet, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Pallas)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 79 (2): 403–404. 
  7. ↑ Palm Civets (Paguma larvata) and SARS
  8. ↑ Evolutionary History of SARS Supports Bats As Virus Source

External links