BROWN PALM CIVET/Behaviour, Distribution, Habitat, Size, Weight, IUCN stetus

 BROWN PALM CIVET

DESCRIPTION: Superficially, it looks like the Palm Civet without the markings on the face and body, but is more uniformly chocolate–brown: its head, tail and limbs are darker, the shoulders more buff, and the flanks greyer. The tail is longer with a pale tip in many. Its neck hair grows in the opposite direction to the rest of its fur – an adaptation to deter predators.

BEHAVIOUR: Omnivorous, but mostly frugivorous, depending on rainforest fruits.

DISTRIBUTION: Western Ghats south of Goa. P.j. jerdoni in Coorg and northern Western Ghats, and P.j. caniscus reported from the Nilgiris, and the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Recent records only from Coorg, Nilgiris, Anamalais, Kalakaad–Mundanthurai and Silent Valley.

HABITAT: Wet evergreen forests and coffee plantations.

 Size: 43–62 cm

IUCN   Status: Vulnerable