Johnston's Genet (Genetta johnstoni): Ringtail of Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone

The day-sleeping, night-working, tree-dwelling Johnston’s genet indeed gives up few facts to scientists other than suspected self-defenses of:

• Agile digitigrade (on-the-digits, tiptoed) getaways;
• 40 teeth -- equally distributed between the lower and upper jaws -- thinned by insect-heavy, meat-poor, plant-supplemented diets;
• Handstand-released stink-bombs;
• Stand-up fighting;
• Territory-marking scent glands;
• 20 curved, retractable, super-sharp claws.

Little is known since the opportunistically foraging carnivore’s official introduction to experts and specialists outside Africa in 1907 – 1908. The known facts originate in a specimen from one of Liberia’s districts west of:

• The Cavally and Duobe Rivers;
• The Putu Mountains, by 15 – 20 miles (24.14 – 32.19 kilometers).

But the specimen represents a species whose bio-geography also involves:

• Ghana;
• Guinea;
• Ivory Coast;
• Sierra Leone.

The scientific community credits Reginald Innes Pocock, F.R.S. (March 4, 1863 – August 9, 1947) with first officially identifying Johnston’s genet. Scientists honor the Clifton-born British zoologist’s studies of:

• Natural history at St. Edward’s School;
• Natural selection with evolutionary biologist Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton (January 27, 1856 – November 20, 1943);
• Comparative anatomy at Oxford University Museum of Natural History;
• Biology and geology with University College-Bristol Professors Conwy Lloyd Morgan (February 6, 1852 – March 6, 1936) and William Johnson Sollas (May 30, 1849 – October 20, 1936).

They respect his professionalism in:

• London Natural History Museum arachnological, entomological (insect-related), myriapodological (centipede-/millipede-related), and ornithological (bird-related) collections, 1885 - 1904;
• London Zoo superintendency, 1904 – 1923;
• British Museum mammals department research, 1923 – 1947.

The West African genet’s common and scientific names -- Johnston’s genet and Genetta johnstoni -- honor Sir Henry Hamilton Johnston (June 12, 1858 – July 31, 1927), as:

• Acquaintance of Denbigh-born Welsh explorer Henry Morton Stanley (January 28, 1841 – May 10, 1904);
• Cartographer;
• Discoverer of 100+ birds, invertebrates, mammals, and reptiles;
• 5-foot (1.52-meter) “Tiny Giant” explorer of Africa, 1882 - 1904;
• Linguist of Arabic, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and 30+ African languages;
• Squeaky vocalist in Thomas Alva Edison’s (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) first made-in-Africa cylinder recordings;
• Wildlife painter and photographer;
• Writer of The Story of My Life and 60+ other books.

Genet originates from Arabic. Jarnait references a beautiful, graceful, intelligent, quick, taciturn, tameable wild animal.

Updated information on behavior, bio-geography, genetics, and physique favors the existence of 14 – 17 genet species. Scientists identify Genetta piscivora (fish-eating genet) as the only aquatic species. They indicate as non-aquatics:

• G. abyssinica (Abyssinian genet);
• G. angolensis (miombo genet);
• G. bourloni (Bourlon’s genet);
• G. cristata (crested genet);
• G. genetta (common Eurasian small-spotted genet);
• G. johnstoni (Johnston’s genet);
• G. maculata (rusty-spotted panther genet);
• G. pardina (pardine genet);
• G. poensis (king genet);
• G. servalina (servaline genet);
• G. thierryi (Thierry’s haussa genet);
• G. tigrina (blotched large-spotted Cape genet);
• G. victoriae (giant genet).

They investigate as additional non-aquatics Muséum national d'histoire naturelle scientist Philippe Gaubert’s proposed species:

• G. felina (small-spotted South African genet);
• G. letabae (sand-colored genet);
• G. schoutedeni (Schouteden’s genet).

Bourlon’s, Johnston’s, king, pardine, and Thierry’s genets claim overlapping bio-geographies. Johnston’s genets indeed co-habit:

• Mixed savannahs and woodlands with pardine and Thierry’s genets;
• Rainforests with Bourlon’s, king, and pardine genets.

But they do not adapt to:

• The brush-grass savannahs of Thierry’s genets;
• The dry savannahs and forest-savannah mosaics of pardine genets.

Their bio-geographies nevertheless may extend 248.55 miles (400 kilometers) westward and 372.82 miles (600+ kilometers) eastward than historically suspected because of tolerances for:

• Poor-draining swamp forests dominated by mangrove-style (Acrostichum, Avicenna, Conocarpus, Laguncularia, Rhizophora) prop-root trees and raffia palms (Raphia);
• Riverine and secondary-growth forests and woodlands.

They indeed tolerate primary-growth alternatives within monthly ambient contexts of:

• 8.63-inch (219.22-millimeter) precipitation;
• 52.57-inch (1,335.21-millimeter) evapo-transpiration;
• 76.41°F (24.67°C) in temperature.

The four sympatric (same-ranging) genets are distinguishable by:

• Bourlon’s genets claiming darkened -- not dark-and-light -- lower tails;
• King genet tails following super-thin light bands with super-wide dark;
• Pardine genet tails looking super-thick;  
• Thierry’s genets showcasing super-big ears.

Johnston’s genet has:

• Black- to red-brown spots forming 2 horizontal lines on both sides of dark mid-dorsal striping running from shoulders to tail tip;
• Dark cheeks, lower limbs, and paws;
• Dark-haired central depressions per each forepaw’s sole;
• Darkened,  large chin-band and outer back-sides of spotted upper limbs;
• 7 – 9 bright tail bands less than 20% wider than 7 – 9 dark, with final darkened ring pale-tufted;
• Light inner ears, lower eye-rings, and mouth.

The under- and upper-coloring is yellow-brown to yellow-grey.

Damaged skins and skulls exist at:

• American Natural History Museum;
• British Natural History Museum;
• Humboldt-Museum;
• Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique;
• Muséum national d’histoire naturelle;
• Naturalis Biodiversity Center;
• Smithsonian National Natural History Museum;
• Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig.

Mature specimens -- including Dr. Dunham’s dead male and live female recovered near Taï National Park’s Institut d’écologie tropicale station -- indicate:

• Dentition: 12 incisors, 4 canines, 16 premolars, 8 molars;
• Head-and-body lengths: 15.75 – 20.47 inches (40 – 52 centimeters);
• Tail lengths: 15.75 – 21.26 inches (40 – 54 centimeters;
• Tail-hair lengths: 0.79 – 1.18 inches (20 – 30 millimeters);
• Weights: 6.61 pounds (3 kilograms).

But Johnston’s genets need governmental protection and scientific research to survive:

• Over-agro-industrializing;
• Over-hunting;
• Over-mining;
• Over-warming climate change.

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

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:Johnston's_Genet_area.png

Mining at Ghana's Damang Mine began in 1997.: Iamgold, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Damang_mining_4_big.jpg

aerial view of Freetown, western Sierra Leone: David Hond, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Freetown-aerialview.jpg

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