Viverrids: Civets of Southeast Asia

Large Indian civet

Our definition of the Viverridae family has, as I noted previously, undergone some ups and downs over the centuries. It was first named, in 1821, for the genus Viverra, which, when it was first described, had contained five species. Even by 1821, four of those had been moved elsewhere - and three are no longer even in the family. But, by the rules of scientific naming, unless we scrap the family entirely, Viverra must remain within it. Which leaves one species that, in a sense, defines the family, and against which everything else in it is compared.

That species is the large Indian civet (Viverra zibetha). Thus, even though "viverra" literally means "ferret" in Latin, means that we can reasonably call the Viverridae "the civet family", as I will be doing from here on in.

When it was described in 1758, this animal was said to live "in India", hence the modern name. That's certainly true, but we now know that it's a relatively small part of its range. Within India, it primarily lives in the far east of the country, in Assam and its neighbouring smaller states, while it's also found across Bangladesh (which, of course, was part of India until 1947). But it's also found in Nepal and Bhutan and across the whole of mainland Southeast Asia to Vietnam and peninsular Malaysia. 

The details of its presence in southern China are less clear; while it is certainly still found in at least some areas, it is far more restricted than it used to be even a few decades ago, and it has likely been driven out of at least some provinces, with the subspecies native to Hainan potentially being extinct. In fact, the decline across the region was significant enough that the large Indian civet was on the verge of being listed as a threatened species in 2008. Since then, large populations have been discovered in places such as Thailand and Cambodia, and the species as a whole is now considered reasonably safe.

While most civets are described as being about cat-sized, the large Indian civet is, well... larger. It weighs around 8.5 kg (18 lbs), similar to a dachshund or a Jack Russell, and has an average body length of about 80 cm (2' 7"). It has the typical slender form and pointed nose of the family, Their fur is grey and marked with blurred black spots or irregular blotches, with black-and-white rings on the tail and white markings on the face. A crest of black hairs runs down the full length of the back and can be raised to make the animal look larger - the hairs can easily be 7 cm (3 inches) in length, so this is quite noticeable. Like cats, they have retractable claws.

However, despite it being the most widespread of the Asian civet species, and reasonably common in at least some areas, we know surprisingly little about the large Indian civet beyond the basic facts. It simply hasn't been studied very much. 

We know that they live in evergreen forests and that they are more tolerant of humans than one might expect, such that they are found, for example, in plantations. Despite this, although they can climb trees if they have to, they spend most of their time on the ground. While some are found close to sea level in places like Bangladesh, they are more common in hilly forests up to around 2,500 metres (8,200 feet) elevation - although one was spotted in Nepal much higher than this.

They are nocturnal, apparently being most active in the evening and the first half of the night rather than the early hours of the morning. They are omnivorous, with a wide diet that may help explain their resilience outside of China, where they were widely hunted in the second half of the 20th century. Grasses are the most common plants eaten, but they also eat fruits and may play a significant role in seed dispersal. At least in central Thailand, they particularly favour the berries of the golden shower tree but this likely varies depending on what's available. Their animal prey includes a high proportion of insects, along with lizards, rodents and almost anything else they can find in the leaf litter of the forest floor. They do not appear put off by venomous animals, such as scorpions and centipedes.

They are solitary animals, with one individual recorded as having a home range of 12 km² (4½ square miles), although they can share latrine sites, which they likely mark with scent to advertise to potential partners or warn off rivals. From what we can tell in captivity, they give birth twice a year to litters of up to four, whose eyes open at around nine days.

Malay civet

The Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga) is rather better known. It is also a common species within its area and lives in a similar habitat, albeit further to the south. The two species overlap in peninsular Malaysia, but the Malay civet is also widespread across Borneo, Sumatra, and many of the smaller islands between them. It is also found in the Philippines, Sulawesi, and Java, but these populations are not thought to be native, having been introduced to the islands by humans.

The Malay civet is smaller than its Indian cousin, being about 65 cm in body length, with a tail about half that, and weighing around 5 kg (11 lbs). It is marked with numerous black spots, which are far more distinct than on the larger species, but it otherwise has a similar coat pattern. They also have similar habitats, including the tolerance for humans that allows them to inhabit palm plantations as well as more primeval jungles. Within these forests, they apparently prefer shady areas, preferably with some fallen logs and dense undergrowth - all factors that are likely to increase the ground-dwelling invertebrates that form much of the animal component of their diet.

They are nocturnal, with activity peaking just after sunset and again just before dawn. Individuals may travel around 9 km over the course of a night, sleeping under cover during the day. However, their home ranges are far smaller than those reported in the (admittedly limited) studies on the large Indian species. The largest recorded home ranges reach 214 hectares (530 acres), around a sixth the size of that apparently used by its larger relative. Most, however, are far smaller, with some evidence that those living in unlogged and undisturbed forests require less space to acquire enough food. Around 100 hectares (250 acres) seems typical, and these ranges overlap even between members of the same sex, suggesting that they are not territorial - although they do avoid one another when they can.

They also scent mark and use latrines, although there is less evidence as to whether or not they share them. While there is almost certainly informative scent in the dung piles, Malay civets also mark by rubbing their backsides onto tree trunks or on patches of the ground. We have less information on their breeding habits, although they are probably similar to those of their relatives.

Large-spotted civet

The closest living relative of the large Indian civet, however, is the large-spotted civet (Viverra megaspila). This also lives in Southeast Asia, but does not extend to India or Bangladesh. Instead, it is found from southern China and northern Myanmar in the north down to roughly the Thailand-Malaysia border in the south. Or, at least, it was, since it has only been seen once in China since 1998, and they have probably vanished from northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. That would leave them in two discontinous regions, one in western Myanmar and southern Thailand, and the other in Cambodia, southern Vietnam and southern Laos. 

This is partly due to its preferred habitat. Unlike the two species I have previously mentioned, it's a lowland animal, rarely found above 350 metres (1,150 feet) and never above 800 (2,600 feet). This is prime logging land even when it isn't being converted into farmland or (less frequently) for industrial or residential use. Not only does this mean that its habitat is being rapidly destroyed, but it is also regularly hunted. It's not necessarily a favoured food in the area, but it isn't avoided, either, and so inevitably ends up in the bushmeat markets. This was what led to the decline of the large Indian civet in southern China as well, although until around 2000, that was also hunted for perfume from its scent glands that can now be made more cheaply by artificial means. But highland refuges, and perhaps a greater degree of adaptability, mean that that remains relatively numerous.

The large-spotted civet is somewhere between the large Indian and Malay civets in size. It is distinguished by having large blotchy dark patterns on the fur rather than the small or indistinct markings of the other two species. In other respects, it closely resembles the large Indian species, complete with the crest of erectile black hair along the back. Other than a preference for deciduous forests over evergreen ones and the lowland habitat, its behaviour is likely similar to that of its cousin. However, while we know, for example, that it is nocturnal, almost the only studies on the species relate to its low abundance and patchy distribution.

It has been formally listed as an endangered species since 2016, and when it's so difficult to even find the animal, there isn't much you can learn about it without looking at stuffed specimens.

It used to be thought that the large spotted civet also lived in a third area, far to the west, along the Malabar Coast of Kerala and far southern Karnataka in southwestern India. And possibly, it does, but there are two reasons to think otherwise.

Firstly, in 1996, despite a remarkable similarity in appearance and largely due to the great distances involved, the Indian population was promoted to full species status as the Malabar civet (Viverra civettina). That took the name originally given to it in the 19th century, from which it had demoted to subspecies status in the 1930s. If this is a species, it inhabits lowland jungles and swamplands along the coast but it has not been universally recognised and may not really be distinct. Indeed, it has been argued that it isn't even real, with the few sightings attributed to misidentification and the collected skins being of uncertain origin, and thus potentially imports from Southeast Asia.

Certainly, nobody has ever photographed one or captured a live specimen. The last recorded instance was in 1989, and that was a skin that we can't be confident was really collected in the area, and so could just be a large-spotted civet. Which brings us to the second reason: even if those 19th-century sightings were real and the animal existed then, even if only as a subspecies, it's probably extinct by now. 

Fortunately, the two remaining true civet species are far better off, especially now that we no longer need to kill them for perfume. Next time, I will be looking at those.

[Photos by "Tontantravel" and Kalyan Varma from Wikimedia Commons, drawing by John Gerrard Keulemans, in the public domain.]