Order : CARNIVORA
Family : Viverridae
Species : Arctogalidia trivirgata

Head-body length : up to 53 cm
Tail length : up to 66 cm
Weight : up to 2.5 kg

This small species of civet is also called the Three-striped Palm Civet. It occurs in primary rainforest and adjacent secondary forest, is nocturnal and almost exclusively arboreal.

Its fur colour is predominantly greyish (sometimes reddish-brown), becoming paler and somewhat yellowish around the neck and on the belly. Its facial fur is black, but in some specimens or populations there is a narrow pale stripe on the forehead. 

Three dark stripes, or rows of broken spots, extend from the neck to the base of the tail : these may be hard to see when the animal is in profile. Its tail is dark, longer than its head-body length, and somewhat prehensile.

The diet of this species is varied and omnivorous: it eats forest fruits, various insects, and a wide range of vertebrate prey such as frogs, birds and arboreal mammals such as squirrels taken from the nest. 

In mainland Asia, the species occurs in parts of northeast India (Assam), southern China, northern Myanmar, Thailand, Indochina, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.  Offshore its range extends to the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Borneo.

It seems likely that the genus Arctogalidia represents a number of geographically separated species (Wilcox et al, 2016).

Figs 1 and 2 : A Small-toothed Palm Civet explores  forest edge habitat in Peninsular Malaysia.

Figs 3 and 4 : Other examples from Peninsular Malaysia. Note the three stripes on the back.

Fig 5 : The fleshy pads beneath the feet, which give arboreal civets excellent grip whilst climbing trees, can be clearly seen in this example from Singapore.


References :

Francis, C.M. 2019. A Field Guide to the Mammals of South-east Asia. Second Edition. New Holland. 416 pp.

Lekagul, B., McNeely, J., 1977. Mammals of Thailand. Association for the Conservation of Wildlife, Thailand. 758 pp.

Willcox, D.H.A., Duckworth, J.W., Timmins, R.J., Chutipong, W., Choudhury, A., Roberton, S., Long, B., Hearn, A. & Ross, J.  (2016). Arctogalidia trivirgata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016