African civet

Not to be confused with African palm civet.

African civet
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Viverridae
Genus: Civettictis
Species:
C. civetta
Binomial name
Civettictis civetta
(Schreber, 1776)
Subspecies

C. c. civetta (Schreber, 1776)
C. c. congica Cabrera, 1929
C. c. schwarzi Cabrera, 1929
C. c. australis Lundholm, 1955
C. c. volkmanni Lundholm, 1955
C. c. pauli Kock, Künzel and Rayaleh, 2000

Range of the African civet
Synonyms[2]
List
  • Viverra civetta Schreber, 1776
  • V. poortmanni Pucheran, 1855

The African civet (Civettictis civetta) is a large viverrid native to sub-Saharan Africa, where it is considered common and widely distributed in woodlands and secondary forests. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008. In some countries, it is threatened by hunting, and wild-caught individuals are kept for producing civetone for the perfume industry.[1]

The African civet is primarily nocturnal and spends the day sleeping in dense vegetation, but wakes up at sunset. It is a solitary mammal with a unique coloration: the black and white blotches covering its coarse pelage and rings on the tail are an effective cryptic pattern. The black bands surrounding its eyes closely resemble those of the raccoon. Other distinguishing features are its disproportionately large hindquarters and its erectile dorsal crest. It is an omnivorous generalist, preying on small vertebrates, invertebrates, eggs, carrion, and vegetable matter. It is one of the few carnivores capable of eating toxic invertebrates such as termites and millipedes.[3][4] It detects prey primarily by smell and sound rather than by sight. It is the only living member of the genus Civettictis.[5]

  1. ^ a b Do Linh San, E.; Gaubert, P.; Wondmagegne, D.; Ray, J. (2019) [amended version of 2015 assessment]. "Civettictis civetta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T41695A147992107. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T41695A147992107.en. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  2. ^ Wozencraft, W. C. (2005). "Civettictis civetta". 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. 554. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  3. ^ Richardson, P. R. K.; Levitan, C. D. (1994). "Tolerance of Aardwolves to Defense Secretions of Trinervitermes trinervoides". Journal of Mammalogy. 75 (1): 84–91. doi:10.2307/1382238. JSTOR 1382238.
  4. ^ Kingdon, J. (2015). "African Civet Civettictis civetta". The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Second ed.). London, New Delhi, New York, Sydney: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 409–410. ISBN 978-1-4729-2531-2.
  5. ^ Ray, J. C. (1995). "Civettictis civetta" (PDF). Mammalian Species (488): 1–7. doi:10.2307/3504320. JSTOR 3504320. S2CID 253932202. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2011-09-22.