The
Asian Palm Civet, is a cat-sized mammal in the family Viverridae native
to South-east Asia and southern China.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 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. It also has a fondness for palm flower sap which,
when fermented, becomes toddy, a sweet liquor (habit which earns one of
its alternate names the 'toddy cat'). 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.
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.
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.
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. However, a paper by Daniel Janies, et al. (February
2008) of 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.[5 |
