Paradoxurus jerdoni, Blanford, 1885

Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2009, Viverridae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 1 Carnivores, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 174-232 : 197

29.

Brown Palm Civet

Paradoxurus jerdoni

French: Civette de Jerdon / German: Jerdon-Musang / Spanish: Musang indio

Other common names: Jerdon’s Palm Civet

Taxonomy. Paradoxurus jerdoni Blanford, 1885 ,

Tamil Nadu Province, Palni Hills, Kodaikanal, S India.

Two subspecies are recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution.

P.j. jerdoni Blanford, 1885 — SW India (Western Ghats).

P. j. caniscus Pocock, 1933 — S India (Palni Hills, Tamil Nadu).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 51-615 cm,tail 44-50 cm; weight 2.0-4. 3 kg. The coat color is a uniform brown, but is darker on the head, neck, shoulders, legs, and tail; there are paler patches in front of the ears. The pelage can be slightly grizzled and the long tail sometimes has a white or pale yellow tip. The hairs of the neck are directed forward, a feature that also occurs in the Golden Palm Civet, but not in the Common Palm Civet. The feet have five digits. The metapodial pads are large and not well separated from the plantar pads; they cover the whole sole and the area between them is naked. On the hindfoot, the third and fourth digit pads are fused at the base. The perineal gland is simple and consists of a naked elongated area. The skull is very similar to that of the Common Palm Civet. Dental formula: 13/3,C1/1,P4/4, M 2/2 = 40 teeth. The upper carnassial retains a major portion of the metastylar blade and has a large parastyle, but does not have a posterolingual cingulum.

Habitat. Evergreen forest; occasionally in coffee plantations. Reported from 500 to 1300 m.

Food and Feeding. Mainly frugivorous. In the Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, 1013 scats contained 91% seeds, fruits and flowers, 11% invertebrates (insects, millipedes, centipedes,snails, and crabs), and 4% vertebrates (small mammals, birds, and reptiles). There were also small quantities of grass and beeswax. The fruits of 53 native plants and four exotic species were consumed. There was considerable variation in the diet throughout the year: the highest consumption of animal prey occurred during the dry season and was related to the low availability of fruits, but there were other peaks in prey consumption that did not correspond to lower fruit availability.

Activity patterns. Nocturnal. Radio-collared individuals were active 80% of the time between dusk and dawn (18:00-06:00 h). All sightings were at night. Daytime rest sites were on 19 tree species (mainly Syzygium spp. and Mangifera indica ), within nests of Indian Giant Squirrels (Ratufa indica ) (40%), tree hollows (30%), vine tangles (18%), and on the forks of branches (3%). Most daybeds were not reused. Rest site trees were tall and wide, within mature forest stands (where there was good canopy contiguity).

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Appears to be solitary: out of 14 sightings, all were of single individuals, except one observation of two together on the same tree. Although they are predominately arboreal and can be observed moving long distances through the canopy, they have been sighted, trapped and cameratrapped, on the ground. The home ranges of three adult males were 0-10, 0-33 and 0-56 km? The home range for a sub-adult male was 0-18 km? and 0-07 km* for a juvenile male. The home ranges of two adult females were 0-06 and 0-17 km*. There were spatial overlaps between some home ranges (up to 33%), although on a short temporal scale (during the same month) there were very little or no overlaps.

Breeding. Females with one and two young have been seen.

Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix III. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Listed as Threatened in the 1989 IUCN Action Plan for the Conservation of Mustelids and Viverrids. The major threat is forest loss and degradation in the Western Ghats: Brown Palm Civets were found to be more common in medium-sized fragments adjoining coffee plantations than in more isolated smaller and larger fragments. Remaining isolated and disturbed rainforest patches on private lands should be identified and incorporated into an overall habitat conservation plan. Regular and systematic monitoring, using suitable field methods, should be implemented to ascertain population trends and distribution. More ecological studies are also needed.

Bibliography. Ashraf (1990), Ashraf et al. (1993), Blanford (1885a, 1885b, 1886), Corbet & Hill (1992), Ganesh (1997), Ganesh et al. (1998), Gupta (1997), Mudappa (2001, 2006), Mudappa et al. (2007), Pocock (1939), Rajamani et al. (2002), Ramachandran (1990), Schreiber et al. (1989), Wozencraft (1984, 2005).

Figures

24. Small-toothed Palm Civet (Arctogalidia trivirgata), 25. Sulawesi Palm Civet (Macrogalidia musschenbroekii), 26. Binturong (Arctictis binturong), 27. Masked Palm Civet (Paguma larvata), 28. Common Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), 29. Brown Palm Civet (Paradoxurus jerdoni), 30. Golden Palm Civet (Paradoxurus zeylonensis), 31. Otter Civet (Cynogale bennettii), 32. Owston’s Palm Civet (Chrotogale owstoni), 33. Banded Palm Civet (Hemugalus derbyanus), 34. Hose’s Palm Civet (Diplogale hosei)

Subspecies and Distribution. P.j. jerdoni Blanford, 1885 — SW India (Western Ghats). P. j. caniscus Pocock, 1933 — S India (Palni Hills, Tamil Nadu).