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Brown palm civet Paradoxurus jerdoni Blanford, 1885

Distribution

The brown palm civet is endemic to Western Ghats, It is distributed in the Palni, Nilgiri and Anamalai hills, Travancore and Coorg (Pocock 1939, Corbet & Hill 1992, Mudappa 1998) particularly at an altitude ranging between 500 and 1300 m.

Description

The brown palm civet is more or less similar to the common palm civet in size. The general body colour is brown with deep brown or blackish face and shoulder speckled with buffy-grey, which merge with the greyish flanks. All the limbs are darker, similar to face and shoulder. Unlike common palm civet it lacks distinct marking on the body. The length of the tail is almost the size of head and body with the distal end lighter brown to dirty white. Weight ranges from 2.4 - 4.0 kg, head and body length 480 - 590 mm and tail length from 400 - 535 mm.

Two subspecies are recorded (Pocock 1939), P. jerdoni jerdoni Blanford, 1885 distributed largely in Palni and Nilgiri hills and Travancore and P. jerdoni caniscus Pocock, 1933 in Coorg.

Behaviour

The brown palm civet is found in well-wooded forests. It is largely arboreal and nocturnal found around coffee estates (Pocock 1939). It is predominantly frugivorous. As found in a recent study (see Mudappa, Status Report 8, this issue) it feeds on nearly 40 rainforest trees and liana fruit species. It occasionally supplements its diet with birds, rodents and insects (Pocock 1939).

Conservation status

It is listed in Schedule II part II of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Appendix III of CITES, VUB1 2c in IUCN Red List, and VU B1 2bc during CAMP Workshop.

| Introduction | Mustelids | Viverrids | Herpestids | 
| Conservation Significance | References |