Asian palm civet
| Asian Palm Civet[1] | |
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| Species: | P. hermaphroditus
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| Binomial name | |
| Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Pallas, 1777)
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The Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), also known as the Common Palm Civet or the Toddy Cat, is a cat-sized mammal in the family Viverridae native to South-east Asia and southern China.
Physiology
Size and markings
The Asian Palm Civet averages 3.2 kg (7 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 palm 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, and rambutan. It also has a fondness for palm flower sap which, when fermented, becomes toddy, a sweet liquor. 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.
Name
The species name comes from the fact that both sexes have scent glands underneath the tail that resemble testicles. It can spray a noxious secretion from these glands.
Habitat
It is found in southern India, Sri Lanka, South-east Asia and southern China.
In the indigenous language of Malayalam in the state of Kerala in southern India, the Asian Palm Civet is known as a "marapatti".
Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, the palm civet is known as "Uguduwa" by the Sinhala speaking community. In most parts of the island, Uguduwa becomes a menace to the people due to fact that it litters in ceilings and attics of common households, and then makes loud noises at night disturbing the sleep of the inhabitants of the house (noises are mostly due to their movements and fights).
Human use
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.[3]
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.
SARS
The SARS virus may have entered the human population from palm civets captured in the wild and improperly prepared for human consumption.[4] However, a paper by Daniel Janies, et al in an early edition (February 2008) of the journal "Cladistics", posits that bats were the vector by which SARS entered the human population, not the civet.[5]
Subspecies
There are a significant number of subspecies of this civet:[1]
- P. h. balicus
- P. h. bondar
- P. h. canescens
- P. h. canus
- P. h. cochinensis
- P. h. dongfangensis
- P. h. enganus
- P. h. exitus
- P. h. hermaphroditus
- P. h. javanica
- P. h. kangeanus
- P. h. laotum
- P. h. lignicolor
- P. h. milleri
- P. h. minor
- P. h. musanga
- P. h. nictitans
- P. h. pallasii
- P. h. pallens
- P. h. parvus
- P. h. philippinensis
- P. h. pugnax
- P. h. pulcher
- P. h. sacer
- P. h. scindiae
- P. h. senex
- P. h. setosus
- P. h. simplex
- P. h. sumbanus
- P. h. vellerosus
References
- ^ a b Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Order Carnivora". In Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 551. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Template:IUCN2006
- ^ Singh, L. A. K. (1982). "Stomach Contents of a Common Palm Civet, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Pallas)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 79 (2): 403–404.
- ^ Palm Civets (Paguma larvata) and SARS
- ^ Evolutionary History of SARS Supports Bats As Virus Source
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