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Order : CARNIVORA
Family : Viverridae
Species : Macrogalidia musschenbroekii
Head-body length : up to 89 cm
Tail length : up to 64 cm
Weight : up to 6 kg
The Sulawesi Palm Civet (or 'Brown Palm Civet') is
the lone endemic carnivoran on the island of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes), in
the heart of the Indonesian archipelago. (Two other species of civet are
known from the island, both being introduced - the
Malay Civet and the
Common Palm Civet, with the latter
rarely being seen.)
This species appears to be rare and its distribution is patchy: it appears
to be largely restricted to old-growth, primary forest from sea level to
2600 metres elevation, but is known to stray beyond the confines of such
forest and venture into agricultural areas.
It appears to be mainly nocturnal and largely arboreal in habits, which may
account for the paucity of sightings. It is omnivorous, consuming a variety
of palm fruits as well as vertebrate prey such as rodents and small birds.
This relatively large civet has short, brownish-grey fur with darker
markings on the posterior part of the back. The tail is patterned with light
and dark rings. Its head and snout are pointed and its ears are rounded and
erect.
The main threat to the survival of this species is continued forest loss.
Individuals are sometimes killed by farmers in retaliation for the loss of
livestock (presumably chickens).
The Sulawesi Palm Civet is known from the northern, central and southeastern
parts of the island. In 2018 its continued presence in the Bogani Nani
Wartabone National Park of North Sulawesi was confirmed.
Fig 1 : Sulawesi Palm Civet from Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park,
North Sulawesi, Indonesia. This image was
acquired during a joint patrol of staff of Wildlife Conservation Society
and Taman Nasional Bogani Nani Wartabone on 7th March 2018. Photo courtesy
TNBNW-WCS.
Fig 2 : View of hill forest habitat at the eastern boundary of Bogani Nani
Wartabone National Park. Photo thanks to Kelvin Lim.
References :
IUCN
Links :
Sulawesi Palm Civet Discovered in Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park
(BNWNP).
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