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Common palm civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus Schreber 1778

Distribution

The common palm civet is distributed in northern Pakistan and in entire India from east of Gujarat to Jammu and Kashmir, whole of the peninsula down south up to Sri Lanka. In the north of India from Nepal, Bhutan and south China, eastward through West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh (Pocock 1939, ZSI 1992, Choudhury 1997,a,b, 1999, Datta 1999, Jha 1999) to Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea and Japan (Pocock 1939, Medway 1978, Corbet & Hill 1992, Wozencraft 1993).

Description

A black or blackish-brown civet heavily built, with long, coarse and shaggy hair and short limbs. The tail is as long as the head and body. The ground colour of the coat varies seasonally and individually from olive-grey to almost cream with darker bases to the hair. The back is always marked with three indistinct black or dark brown longitudinal stripes in the midline. The flanks are marked with many dark spots, which may be partly coalesced to form additional longitudinal stripes. These markings are less prominent in the juveniles. The tail is sometimes tipped white. It is distinguished from Viverra and Viverricula by uniformly grey un-patterned throat, and un-ringed tail. The limbs are always black or dark brown. Facial markings are quite variable; the most usual pattern is a white patch or spot below and above the eyes, and each side of the nose. Weight ranges from 2.4 to 4.0 kg, head and body length varies between 480 and 590 mm and tail length between 440 to 535 mm.

Around 16 subspecies have been reported to occur in Asia. For details see Pocock (1939).

Behaviour

Like other civets it is mostly solitary, nocturnal and largely arboreal, although freely descending to the ground to cross open spaces. It prefers well-wooded forests, and roams around in plantations taking shelter in hollows of trees. It also lives close to human habitation on roofs and in homesteads. It is an omnivore and feeds on birds, rodents, insects and fruits such as Tendu (Diospyros spp.) banana, pineapple, coffee and berries (Pocock 1939, Medway 1978, Singh 1982). The young ones are born in lair in hollows of trees, or among boulders. The litter size is usually 3 to 4. They mature at the age of 11-12 months. The longest recorded life span is 22 years 5 months (Jones 1968). When threatened they hiss and spit like cats

Conservation status

It is listed in Schedule II part II of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Appendix III of CITES and LR1c during CAMP Workshop.

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