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| Common genet |
The other was the common genet (Genetta genetta). Frédéric Cuvier split the genets off from the civets proper in 1816, recognising just one other species - which molecular evidence has since shown isn't a viverrid at all, although this wasn't obvious even in the late 20th century. His basis for the distinction was that genets have a much smaller scent gland than civets, although he conceded that the secretions it produced were, in his words, "très manifeste".
We now recognise over a dozen species of genet, although exactly how many is a matter of debate. The usual number quoted today is either fourteen or fifteen, although a paper presented at a conference on biodiversity in 2005 proposed seventeen. Genets are native to Africa, being found across the whole of the continent other than the Sahara Desert. For the most part, they are similar in form and difficult to distinguish beyond which part of Africa they happen to have been found in, although genetic evidence shows that the ancestors of the living species began diverging over 8 million years ago, during the late Miocene.
Of all of these species, the common genet is the most widespread. It is found across the Sahel (the band between the Sahara and the equatorial rainforests), and most of eastern and southern Africa. It is also the only genet species to live north of the Sahara, being found in Morocco, northern Algeria, Tunisia, and a few coastal regions of Libya. Moreover, it's also found in Yemen and along the west coast of Saudi Arabia and, perhaps more significantly, in Spain, Portugal, and southern France.
The animal is clearly not native to Europe, but has been present in the area for so long that, in that original species description in 1758, it was described as coming from a location near Madrid. In fact, they have been on the continent for centuries, with the oldest known remains dated to the 8th century. This suggests that they may have been brought across by the Muslim conquerors of Andalusia, although there is a suggestion that at least some might date back centuries further to Carthaginian times.
In recent years, they are reported to have crossed the Rhône, presumably due to the construction of new bridges, and reached the Italian border. Cold winters are thought to be the main reason they haven't travelled any further north than Nantes, although this could potentially change in future decades. Either way, even if they aren't strictly native to the region, the bulk of research on the animals has been conducted on European populations.
Like most genets, the common species is about the size of a housecat, but, being much more slender, only weighs about half as much. They have a pointed snout, erect, rounded ears, and a long tail. The background colour of their fur varies from pale grey to a reddish-yellow with paler underparts. The body and limbs are marked with rows of black spots and the tail is striped. There are also distinct facial markings, including white spots above and below the eyes. In Europe, a few albino and all-black individuals have been noted, although it's unclear why this is apparently not also the case in Africa.
The hair is typically long, although it less so in the subspecies living in the warmest of climes. Notably, a black stripe of especially long hairs runs down the middle of the back. In fact, an alarmed genet acts very much like a cat, arching its back, erecting the hairs of the stripe into a crest, sticking out those on its tail into a "bottle-brush", and hissing loudly.
Given the vast range it inhabits, it's unsurprising that the common genet can adapt to a wide range of habitats. They avoid true deserts and dense jungles, but otherwise, so long as it's warm enough, they will live almost anywhere. Having said which, they prefer woodland, and where they live in drier places, they will at least focus on places with bushes and on ravines, both of which provide safe places to sleep.
Similarly, the common genet has a wide diet, which varies somewhat across its range. While the details depend on the exact area, between 70 and 80% of their diet consists of small mammals, such as mice, shrews, and even moles. In Europe and along the Mediterranean coast of Africa, this mostly means wood mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), which can form up to two-thirds of the mammalian component of their diet, although across most of Africa, they must be eating something else. The remaining 20 to 30% of their diet is roughly evenly divided between small birds and large insects (beetles, grasshoppers). Rarer foods include rabbits, bats, crayfish, and a few plants.
Like other genets, the common species is nocturnal and solitary, spending the day resting under cover. In Spain, each male has been reported to use an area of about 113 hectares (280 acres) over the course of a year, while females use 72 (180 acres); this will surely vary in other parts of the world, depending on the availability of food and water. Genets mark their territory with midden piles, often shared between neighbours. These are placed in prominent locations, often on top of rocks or in bushes. Occasionally, they are placed in trees, although genets are generally reluctant to use their climbing skills more than they have to.
In addition, they also scent mark using their perineal glands, spraying onto vertical objects while doing a handstand on their fore-paws, in the same manner as civets. Additional, smaller, scent glands allow them to deposit markings by rubbing their flanks along objects; their use of this method varies across the year and may be related to reproductive status. Breeding is seasonal, although when that season is varies across their range. The young two or three in each litter are, like those of cats, born blind but already furred.
Several subspecies of common genet have been named over the year and there remains disagreement as to how many are really valid. One of them, the "feline" or "South African" genet, is often regarded as a separate species (Genetta felina) and is the reason for the "fourteen or fifteen" given in the species count I gave above. It lives in South Africa and Namibia where, in the absence of wood mice, its preferred prey include the four-striped grass mouse and the African pygmy mouse.
One part of Africa where the common genet is not found is the tropical margin of West Africa, where the forests are too dense for it to be comfortable. Several different species of genet are currently recognised in this area, but they have been little-studied compared with their common relative.
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| Pardine genet |
The pardine genet is also larger than the common sort, weighing around 3 kg (6½ lbs) instead of just 2 kg (4½ lbs). They live across much of West Africa, from Senegal to Ghana; it has been suggested that they are not found east of the Volta River, although there have been claims of genets with similar spots as far east as Benin. While they are primarily forest-dwellers, they are adaptable and at least somewhat tolerant of human disturbance, being found in plantations and even some suburban areas. One killed in Côte d'Ivoire had recently eaten a brush-furred rat (which is relatively small as rats go), but that's about the extent of our knowledge of its diet.
The Hausa genet (Genetta thierryi) is more widespread than its close pardine relative, although it is said to be less common in those areas where it lives. It is found from Senegal all the way across to Cameroon, and so clearly isn't bothered by the Volta - or indeed, the Niger River. It is distinguished by lacking the dark rings around the spots, giving it a much paler and more yellowish appearance, but is also only about half the weight of the pardine genet. Like its cousin, it lacks the crest of black erectile hair along the back possessed by the common genet. It prefers relatively open woodland and savannah.
Johnston's genet (Genetta johnstoni) was first named as a separate species in 1904, and has more consistently been considered as such than the more widespread Hausa and pardine forms. It is somewhere between the two in appearance and size, having spots with faint rings that sometimes merge into stripes towards the rump. It does, however, have the crest of raisable black hairs along the back that those two lack.
It is another forest dweller, being restricted to dense rainforest, and is especially common in wetlands such as wooded swamps. In line with this, individuals are reported to frequently sleep in trees through the day, unlike the more ground-dwelling common species. It has traditionally been regarded as native to a region stretching from southern Guinea to western Ghana, although a single report from a camera trap in 2011 showed one close to the Guinea/Senegal border about 260 km (160 miles) north of what had previously been thought of as their furthest limit.
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| Hausa genet |
The king genet (Genetta poensis) has been recorded from four disparate locations along the Atlantic coast: Liberia, Ghana, Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea, and around the mouth of the Congo River. The spots are elongated and almost rectangular, and, while it has a clear black streak down the back, this does not form a crest. Other than the fact that all of the locations where it has been spotted are tropical rainforest, that's literally all we know. Indeed, we can only confirm it exists from the ten specimens held in museums and nobody has recorded even seeing one since 1946. That could be because it's rare, perhaps even extinct, but it's also possible that it just looks so similar to the other species of the area that, in the absence of detailed surveys, nobody has remarked on it.
Over on the other side of the continent, we have the Ethopian genet (Genetta abyssinica). This is native to northern Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, and likely just across their borders into neighbouring countries. The spots on the back are merged into five parallel dark stripes, and a thin white streak runs down the middle of the wider black strip along the middle of the back. It's also one of the smallest genets, typically weighing less than 2 kg (4½ lbs).
It inhabits highland regions, mostly forested, and is commonly associated with tree heath (a type of bush), goatweed, and Abyssinian rose. However, it has also been sighted in lowland areas, so it may have a broader tolerance for different habitats than this would suggest. There have been few detailed studies on it, but there are enough to identify that its favoured prey includes grass rats, which are native to high altitude grasslands in the area. Other studies indicate a solitary lifestyle, leaving the same sort of middens that common genets do, among other points of similarity.
That covers seven (or eight) of the fourteen (or fifteen) species of genet. The others live, on average further south, and I will turn to them next time.
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