The Sulawesi palm civet (''Macrogalidia musschenbroekii''), also known as Sulawesi civet, musang and brown palm civet is a little-known

viverrid Viverridae is a family (biology), family of small to medium-sized feliform mammals, comprising 14 genera with 33 species. This family was named and first described by John Edward Gray in 1821. Viverrids occur all over Africa, in southern Europe, ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

. It is listed as Vulnerable on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

due to population decline estimated to have been more than 30% over the last three generations (suspected to be 15 years) inferred from

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and degradation. ''Macrogalidia'' is a

monospecific In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

. It is the only

carnivora Carnivora ( ) is an order of placental mammals specialized primarily in eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the sixth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species. Carnivor ...

n native to Sulawesi.

Characteristics

The Sulawesi civet has a light brownish-chestnut coloured soft and short coat with numerous light hairs intermixed. The underparts vary from fulvous to white; the breast is rufescent. There is a pair of indistinct longitudinal stripes and some faint spots on the hinder part of the back. The

whiskers Whiskers, also known as vibrissae (; vibrissa; ) are a type of stiff, functional hair used by most therian mammals to sense their environment. These hairs are finely specialised for this purpose, whereas other types of hair are coarser as ta ...

are mixed brown and white. The tail is marked with alternating rings of dark and pale brown, which are indistinct on the under surface, and disappear towards the dark tip. The length of head and body is about with a long tail. The

skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

with the bony palate is much produced backwards, but otherwise resembles that of Asian palm civet (''Paradoxurus hermaphroditus''). The teeth differ from those of all the ''

Paradoxurus ''Paradoxurus'' is a genus of three palm civets within the viverrid family that was denominated and first described by Frédéric Cuvier in 1822. The ''Paradoxurus'' species have a broad head, a narrow muzzle with a large rhinarium that is deeply ...

'' species in that the two cheek-series run nearly parallel, in place of being widely divergent posteriorly.

Distribution and habitat

Sulawesi palm civets were recorded in lowland forest, lower and upper montane forest at elevations up to , grasslands and near farms. They appear to be more common in forests than in agricultural areas. Although they appear to be generalists that can probably tolerate some degree of disturbed habitat, there is no evidence that populations can survive independent of tall forest. Between September 2016 and April 2017, Sulawesi palm civets were recorded in Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park and in Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve at elevations of .

Ecology and behaviour

Sulawesi palm civets are partially

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally (scansorial), but others are exclusively arboreal. The hab ...

, apparently

nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, and

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

, feeding on small mammals, fruit and grass. They occasionally take birds and farm animals. Their home range is estimated at .

References

External links

* http://arcbc.org/cgi-bin/abiss.exe/spd?SID=587127028&spd=14358&sub=0&tx=MA {{Taxonbar, from=Q612589 Viverrids Endemic fauna of Indonesia Mammals of Sulawesi Carnivorans of Asia Vulnerable fauna of Asia Mammals described in 1877