Large-Spotted Civets (Viverra megaspila): Ringtails of Mainland Southeast Asia

Hill and montane forests at lower altitudes are the natural habitats of large-spotted civets. They can be composed of deciduous, dry dipterocarp (“winged fruit”), or evergreen species. They preferentially cluster primary-growth, tall trees within uninterrupted blocks covering 193.05+ square miles (500+ square kilometers) at elevations below 984.25 – 1,312.34 feet (300 – 400 meters) above sea level. They count among alternative configurations:

• Deciduous forest mosaics with riverine galleries and semi-evergreen patches;
• Degraded woodlands with persisting sylvan structure;
• Evergreen forest – grassland edges;
• Evergreen/semi-evergreen forests at heights of 1,312.34 – 2,624.67 feet (400 – 800 meters) above sea level;
• Lowland semi-evergreen forests.

What unites all of the above-mentioned, more or less preferred habitats is the availability of:

• Dense, ground-level vegetation;
• Surface-accessible water bodies.

Niches within forested and wooded habitats accommodate arboreal or terrestrial life cycles and natural histories. Depending upon the species, Africa’s and Asia’s civets can be found either in the trees or on the ground. Mammalogists historically deplore the scientific community’s general unfamiliarity with the biology of elusive, reclusive large-spotted civets. But they typically describe large-spotted civets as:

• Avoiding tree-based activities;
• Favoring ground-level lifestyles.

They hypothesize that large-spotted civet survival and sustainability depends upon:

• Denning among dense thickets and vines, around fallen timber, or in shallow burrows;
• Foraging through herbaceous and woody vegetation for fruits and roots;
• Hunting small mammals and possibly amphibians, birds, and reptiles.

They suspect that riparian (river-side) preferences reflect dietary predilections for:

• Crustaceans;
• Fish.

Other civets claim within their bio-geographies the homelands of the large-spotted civets. Scientists consider such occurrences as possibilities for sympatric (geographically overlapping) habitations. They exclude from sympatry with large-spotted civets:

• Brown (Paradoxurus montanus), golden dry-zone (P. stenocephalus), and golden wet-zone (P. aureus) palm civets of Sri Lanka;
• Hose’s palm civets (Diplogale hosei) of Borneo;
• Malabar large-spotted civets (Viverra civettina) of India;
• Sulawesi palm civets (Macrogalidia musschenbroekii) of Indonesia.

With one exception, the above-mentioned allopatric (geographically differentiated) civet species express physiques as distinct as their bio-geographies from the large-spotted civet’s appearance and occurrence. All but Malabar large-spotted civets therefore remain uniquely recognizable from large-spotted civets when the five species find their representatives artificially mixed in captivity or museums.

Mammalogists attribute sympatry with large-spotted civets to:

• Asian common (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), gem-faced masked (Paguma larvata), and small-toothed three-striped (Arctogalidia trivirgata) palm civets in Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam;
• Banded palm civets (Hemigalus derbyanus) in Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand;
• Large Indian civets (Viverra zibetha) in Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam;
• Malay civets (Viverra tangalunga) in Malaysia;
• Otter civets (Cynogale bennettii) in Malaysia, Thailand;
• Owston’s palm civets (Chrotogale owstoni) in China, Laos, Vietnam.

With two exceptions, the above-mentioned sympatric species claim noticeable physical differences from darkly, densely, distinctly blotched, dotted, ringed, and striped large-spotted civets. Confusion ensues when the less cat-like, more dog-like Viverra (ferret-like) genus members -- Indian, large-spotted, and Malay civets -- get together.  

Cautions against similarities between the four Viverra genus members appear in 1862 with the formal description of large-spotted civets to amateurs and professionals outside Asia. The examination of flattened skins from Prome, Burma -- in the present-day Pyay, Myanmar -- attests to the expertise of Edward Blyth (December 23, 1810 – December 27, 1873), as:

• London-born pupil of Dr. Fennell in Wimbledon and of Dr. Keating in St. Paul’s Churchyard;
• London-employed pharmacist, teacher, and writer;
• London-employed section editor of “Mammalia, Birds, and Reptiles” for the English-language version, Animal Kingdom, of Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier’s (August 23, 1769 – May 13, 1832) 1817-published Le Règne Animal, 1840;
• South Asia-employed museum curator for the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1841 – 1862.

Large-spotted civet bodies display:

• Black or black-brown super-marks blotching and spotting the sides and striping the shoulders;
• Black dorsal stripe from shoulders to tail tip;
• Gold-buff, grey-brown, silver-grey background;
• Pale-centered quadrangular or round-spotted rows marking the posterior;
• 2 black transverse neck stripes.

Their heads exhibit:

• Alert, small, wide-spaced ears;
• Dark-adapted, large, rounded eyes;
• Moist-nosed, pointed muzzle.

Their elongated mandibles expose:

• 6 canines, 2 incisors, 8 premolars, 4 molars equally distributed between the left and right upper jaw;
• 6 canines, 2 incisors, 4 premolars, 8 molars evenly divided between the left and right lower jaw.

Their limbs have:

• 5-digited paws;
• Hairless soles;
• 20 curved, unlobed claws.

Their black-tipped tails sequence 4 complete dark with 4 incomplete pale rings.

Over 150 years after the ground-dwelling, opportunistic-feeding nocturnalist species’ taxonomic initiation, large-spotted civets are not much better known. Bio-geography and biology emerge as explanations for the persistent unfamiliarity. Mammalogists encounter within large-spotted civet homelands:

• Jumbled habitats;
• Non-traversable terrain;
• Reticent cultures;
• Volatile politico-economics.

Niches down-sized and fragmented by equally necessary agro-industrialism and traditionalism obstruct monitoring fleet, savvy large-spotted civets whose physical and sexual maturity only realizes:

• Ear lengths of 1.58 – 1.97 inches (4 – 5 centimeters);
• Head-and-body lengths of 29.92 – 35.43 inches (76 – 90 centimeters);
• Hind-paw lengths of 7 – 8 inches (2.76 – 3.15 centimeters);
• Tail lengths of 11.81 – 15.75 inches (30 – 40 centimeters);
• Weights of 14.55 – 18.52 pounds (6.6 – 8.4 kilograms).

Enlightenment requires:

• Environmental awareness;
• Governmental protection;
• Scientific research.

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://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Large-spotted_Civet_area.png

Large-Spotted Civet storied landscapes: Mandalay, in north central Myanmar (Burma)
Mandalay Hill, northeast of Mandalay city center: Stefan Fussan, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mandalay_Hill_3.jpg

Large-Spotted Civet historic landscape: Ban Gioc - Detian Falls
view from Vietnam: Mike Williams (Ajarnmike), CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thác_Bản_Giốc.jpg

Large Indian Civet (Viverra zibetha)
Johann Christian Daniel Schreber, Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur: Plates 81 - 165 (1774 - 1846), Plate CXII: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/31064660

Edward Blyth, Large-Spotted Civet describer
Allan O. Hume, The Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds (1890), frontispiece, opp. p. 1: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/nestseggsofindia02humerich/page/n21/mode/1up

Large-Spotted Civet (Viverra megaspila)
Dr. A. Günther, "Remarks on some Indian and, more especially, Bornean Mammals."
Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London for the Year 1876 (May 16), Plate XXXVII, between pp. 424-425: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/29099622

lower side of left fore paw of Large-Spotted Civet (Viverra megaspila), under synonym of Moschothera megaspila)
R.I. Pocock, The Fauna of British India, Vol. I Mammalia (1939), Figure 87, p. 355: Public Domain Mark 1.0, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/PocockMammalia1/page/n437/mode/2up

lower side of left hind paw of Large-Spotted Civet (Viverra megaspila), under synonym of Moschothera megaspila
R.I. Pocock, The Fauna of British India, Vol. I Mammalia (1939), Figure 87, p. 355
Figure 87, p. 355: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/PocockMammalia1/page/n437/mode/2up

Large-Spotted Civet exotic landscape: Luang Prabang
panorama of Luang Prabang, north Laos, seen from Phu Si Hill: Nam Khan River to left; Luang Prabang's airstrip, farther left: Benh Lieu Song, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luang_Prabang_pano_Wikimedia_Commons.jpg

Large-Spotted Civet extreme landscape: Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park
Bố Trạch and Minh Hóa districts, central Quảng Bình Province, North Central Coast region, Vietnam: Genghiskhanviet, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phongnhakebang6.jpg

Large-Spotted Civet storied landscapes: Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat's dense vegetation in proximity to accessible water sources is a favored landscape for Large-Spotted Civets.: Steve Jurvetson (jurvetson), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/2164840851/; Steve Jurvetson from Menlo Park, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angkor_Wat_aerial_view.jpg

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