Banded Linsangs (Prionodon linsang): Ringtails of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand

The word linsang comes from a Bahasa Indonesia/Malaysia word for “animal.” Its common-name purpose dates to the carnivore's taxonomic description in 1821 by Major-General Thomas Hardwicke (1755/1756 – March 3, 1835), as:

• India- and Southeast Asia-posted British East India Company army officer, ornithologist, and zoological illustration/specimen collector, 1777 – 1823;

• Linnaean Society fellow-elect, 1804-;

• Royal Society fellow-elect, 1813-.

It also describes Africa's linsang-like, omnivorous oyans. But it functions as species name only for banded linsangs (Prionodon linsang), whose continental and insular Southeast Asian bio-geography embraces:

• Bangka and Belitung Islands;

• Borneo;

• Indonesia (Java, Sumatra);

• Malaysia;

• Myanmar (Tenasserim);

• Thailand.

The species name Prionodon pardicolor contrastingly honors Asia's differently ground-colored spotted linsangs.

The ground-color of banded linsangs indeed assumes a range of yellow-browns. It becomes creamy white-grey where upper-parts merge with under-parts. Bands, spots, and stripes communicate black and black-brown contrasts. Five broad, irregular bands from merged spots darken the head, shoulders, and spine. Large striping decorates each side of the neck. Black spots in longitudinal rows embellish the flanks, the fore-limbs right down to the paws, and the rear-limbs right down to the hock. Uniform bands form into 7 – 10 dark rings on the cylindrical, long, non-prehensile (“non-grasping”) tail, whose tip typically ends darkly as opposed to the spotted linsang's white terminus. All four paws lack narrow-lined soles, which nevertheless are hairy between the digits and pads.

The form and the function of the banded linsang's body convey in its entirety:

• Agility;

• Beauty;

• Elegance;

• Grace;

• Intelligence;

• Reticence;

• Silence;

• Speed.

Banded linsangs epitomize quick, quiet nimbleness with digitigrade (“on the digits,” “tiptoes”) locomotion over the ground and through the treetops. Their attractive, dense, short fur feels and looks velvet-soft. The overall impression is gracefully elegant, with:

• Elongated, slender neck;

• Fine, light, long, super-sensory whiskers;

• Long, low, narrow head and skull;

• Pointed muzzle;

• Pronounced snout.

Alert, forward-facing, pale-colored, prominent ears and big, dark-adapted, round-pupiled eyes leave researchers and and viewers with intelligent impressions whose validity is verified in the rare instances of the banded linsang's capture and 10+ captive years in amiable, docile, loving, loyal domestication.

Banded linsangs apparently complete silent life cycles and natural histories. Scientists encounter no anecdotal or documented instances of banded linsang vocalizations. They expect that communication employs super-acute:

• Hearing;

• Seeing;

• Smelling;

• Tasting.

They hypothesize that odors are interpreted, not released, since Asia's cat-like, scentless linsangs lack the anal scent gland of the genet-like, scent-endowed African oyan. The absence of known vocalizations indeed reinforces the essentially active-avoidance, non-violent reticence of banded linsangs despite:

• 5 retractile claws whose sheaths defend both fore-paws and whose skin lobes protect both hind-paws;

• Razor-sharp, shearing dentition with the upper jaw's 6 incisors, 2 canines, 8 premolars, and 2 molars and the lower jaw's 6 incisors, 2 canines, 8 premolars, and 4 molars.

No clear breeding season alters the banded linsang's diurnal rests and nocturnal forages. April, May, and October constitute peak months for delivering 2 – 3 furred newborns -- who weigh 1.41 ounces (40 grams) apiece and whose eyes open 20 days later -- after an 11-day estrus and unknown gestations. Parents immediately implement linsang nomadism by:

• Building and leaving weekly-occupied leaf-and-stick spheres within palm tree root burrows or rainforest hollows 6.56+ feet (2+ meters) above-ground;

• Emancipating weaned males.

Females realize independence with physical and sexual maturity's:

• Head-and-body lengths: 12.20 – 17.72 inches (310 – 450 millimeters);

• Tail lengths; 11.97 – 16.54 inches (304 – 420 millimeters);

• Weights: 21.09 – 28.15 ounces (598 – 798 grams).

Foraging, reproducing, and sheltering count among the banded linsang's paramount activities. Population sustainability demands skillful savviness against such natural enemies as:

• Predatory mammals, raptors, and reptiles;

• Village-dwelling over-hunters.

But Asia's insectivorous linsangs do not copy the African linsang's lethal pounce-and-bite food-gathering behaviors. They instead employ belly-crawling, reptilian imitations to:

• Ferret away bird eggs;

• Frighten and neck-snap lizards and squirrels.

The banded linsang in fact is so efficient that the common nomenclature includes “tiger-civet.” This represents quite an achievement since the banded linsang's habitat is continental and insular Southeast Asia's hot, impenetrable, luxuriant, moist vanishing rainforests, with monthly averages of:

• 76.96°F (24.98°C) in temperatures;

• 9.31+ inches (236.46+ millimeters) in precipitation;

• 63.84+ inches (1,621.57+ millimeters) in actual evapo-transpiration.

Scientists estimate the banded linsang's range at 464,100.02 square miles (1,202,013.54 square kilometers). Within the vast home and territorial distributions inherent in such extended bio-geographies, banded linsangs possibly have sufficient genetic strength to survive. Scientists indeed hypothesize that banded linsangs subsume enough geographical and physical subtleties to warrant subdivision into:

• The nominate (first-described) Prionodon linsang linsang;

• The subspecies P.l. fredericae (per H.J.V. Sody in 1936) and P.l. gracilis (per Thomas Horsfield [May 12, 1773 – July 24, 1859] in 1822).

Bio-geographical and genetic diversity in fact must join with protected areas, scientific research, and visitor environmentalism in sustaining banded linsangs throughout the interfaces between:

• Globally-warmed climate change and historically-configured wildlife associations;

• Modern-minded agro-industrialists and tradition-oriented villagers.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

cloud-dwelling Mount Kinabalu, west coast of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo: NepGrower, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_kinabalu.jpg

John Edward Gray, Illustrations of Indian Zoology (1830-1832), Vol. I, frontispiece: Public Domain Mark 1.0, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/IllustrationsOfIndianZoology1/page/n7/mode/1up?view=theater

Distribution data from IUCN Red List: Chermundy/IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, species assessors and the authors of the spatial data, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Banded_Linsang_area.png

R.A. Sterndale, Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon (1884), No. 226, page 214: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14964580

illustration by John Curtis (Sep. 3, 1791-Oct. 6, 1862) from specimen collected on Malacca, southern Malay Peninsula, by Major-Gen. William Farquhar (Feb. 26, 1774-May 11, 1839); Major-Gen. Thomas Hardwicke, "Description of the Wild Dog of Sumatra, a new Species of Viverra, and a new Species of Pheasant. Read May 2, 1820."
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Tea pickers at work on Pondok Gedeh plantation with Mount Salak in background: ca. 1924 photo by G.F.J. (Georg Friedrich Johannes) Bley (1855-1944): Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Theepluksters_aan_het_werk_op_een_plantage_Pondok_Gedeh_TMnr_60016688.jpg

John Edward Gray, Illustrations of Indian Zoology (1833 - 1834), Vol. II: Public Domain Mark 1.0, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/IllustrationsOfIndianZoology2/page/n248/mode/1up?view=theater; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/58222041

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Tanjung Pesona Beach Resort and Spa, northeastern Bangka Island, Indonesia: Ferry Alayn, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tanjung_Pesona_Bangka.jpg; Ferry Alayn (Alayn1807), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/40605669@N03/4882026128

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