Malabar Large-Spotted Civets (Viverra civettina): Ringtails of the Western Ghats in India

Coastal southwest India historically accords with the bio-geographical needs of Malabar large-spotted civets. The correlation between biology and geography can be accommodating or exacting. Altitude, humidity, landforms, rainfall, temperature, and wildlife emerge as significant determinants. They find humid, lush, warm expressions in the southwestern moist deciduous forests of the Western Ghats (“steps”) and the tropical moist broadleaf forests of the Malabar (“mountain-land”) Coast. Both eco-regions historically provide Malabar large-spotted civets with niches:

• Among lowland stands of chengal (Neobalanocarpus heimii), durian (Cullenia excelsa), meranti (Shorea acuminata), and teak (Tectona grandis);

• At coastal elevations up to 820.21 feet (250 meters) above sea level;

• Between montane heights of 820.21 – 3,280.84 feet (250 – 1,000 meters) above sea level.  

Sylvan habitats allow clever camouflage to operate optimally. Malabar large-spotted civets indeed appear, black, grey, and white, in line with:

• Exposed soil;

• Filtered light;

• Forest shadows;

• Lingering rainfall;

• Monsoon clouds;

• Tree bark.

Black darkens:

• The body, with big blotches randomly spotting the flanks and limbs, long mane bristling mid-dorsally from neck to tail tip, and night-nimble paws;

• The head, with moist nose, night-vision eyes, splotched cheeks, and two alternating neck bands obliquely transversing the throat;

• The tail, with alternating rings and 2-inch (5.08-centimeter) tip.

Grey grizzles as the head-and-body ground color. Whitel ightens:

• The tail, with 5 alternating light rings;

• The throat, with 2 alternating stripes obliquely brightening, encircling, and transversing the neck.

• The colors obfuscate identification.   

Body shapes and elusive behaviors afford substantial reinforcement to camouflage-smart corporeal coloring. Malabar large-spotted civets belong to the viverrid (binturong, civet, linsang, oyan family) genus Viverra. The Latin term can be translated as “ferret.” But all of the genus's members communicate dog-like impressions with:

• Elongated heads;
• Errant legs;
• Extended muzzles.

Overall canine looks convey fleet elusiveness. Escape, evasion, survival, and sustainability indeed depend upon internal compasses activated by dog-like:

• Acute hearing;

• Fast paws;

• Hairless soles; 

• Long limbs;

• Motion-detector vision;

• Quick reflexes;

• Sensitive smell;

• Sharp claws, as 20 curved nails;

• Strong teeth, as 12 incisors, 4 canines, 16 premolars, 8 molars;

• Super-sensory whiskers.

They additionally involve:

• Balance- ballast-, direction-regulating tails;

• Scent glands for marking territory and stink-bombing predators.   

The life cycles and natural histories of Malabar large-spotted civets challenge scientists. Problems consistently emerge historically regarding sparse information from such first-hand sources as:

• Agro-industrialists;

• Butchers; 

• Hunters;

• Perfumists;

• Physicians;

• Traders;

• Villagers.

All seven informants have vested interests in refining information-gathering about the Malabar large-spotted civet's bio-geography. They respectively link one of the subcontinent's most elusive, enigmatic animals with:

• Annoyances;

• Bushmeat;

• Exotic pets;

• Fragrant civetone (cyclic ketone pheromone sourced by disfiguring, painful gland-scarping or through slaughter);

• Medicinal civetone;

• Ritual-related attire;

• Trophy specimens.

With its modernist and traditionalist interactions at urban and wildland interfaces, the twentieth century ironically looms as the time during which the Malabar large-spotted civet's distribution and range get sorted and then go missing again.  

The last quarter of the twentieth century ends 100+ speculative years regarding Malabar large-spotted civet biology. Its agro-industrial and residential expansionism finds Malabar large-spotted civets flushed from deforested lowlands into cashew plantations. Scientists guesstimate that unweeded thickets sustain fewer than 250 relic civets. But elusiveness, not extinction or near-extinction, informs the Malabar large-spotted civet's formal presentation in 1862 to amateurs and professionals outside India by Edward Blyth (December 23, 1810 – December 27, 1873), as:

• London-born chemistry matriculant, pharmacist, and teacher;

• “Mammalia, Birds, and Reptiles” writer for the English-language edition, Animal Kingdom, of Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier's (August 23, 1769 – May 13, 1832) Le Règne animal;

• Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal museum curator.   

Mammalogists assume terrestrial life cycles and natural histories for super-elusive Malabar large-spotted civets. They attribute super-reluctance by Malabar large-spotted civets to climb or frequent trees. This non-arborealism contradicts the tree-dwelling inclinations of other civet species. It exposes Malabar large-spotted civets to:

• Agro-industrial machinery;
• Bounty-hunting and snare-trapping;
• Predatory mammals, raptors, and reptiles.

A ground-dwelling biology indeed gives no protection to yearly litters of 1 – 4 fur-covered, open-eyed offspring whose survival is compromised by cashew plantation make-overs into thicket-less, understory-free, weeded rubber tree plantings. It is untenable when assiduous foraging produces edible poultry and inedible crops and yields none of the homeless, starving Malabar large-spotted civet’s traditional fare of:

• Amphibians;
• Bird eggs;
• Fish;
• Fruits;
• Insects;
• Small mammals and reptiles.

Scientists expect obligate pest-controlling, seed-dispersing Malabar large-spotted civets to mature physically to:

• Head-and-body lengths of 29.92 – 33.47 inches (76 – 85 centimeters);
• Tail lengths of 12.99 – 15.75 inches (33 – 40 centimeters);
• Weights of 17.64 – 19.84 pounds (8 – 9 kilograms).

But life expectancies need:

• Evergreen/semi-evergreen rainforests;
• Lowland, riparian, or scrub forests;
• Lowland swamps;
• 118.11 – 157.48-inch (3,000 – 4,000-millimeter) rainfall yearly;
• Shallow waterways;
• 68+°F (20+°C) temperatures;
• Wooded coastal plains and hill slopes.

Per sightings and specimens into the 1990s, life-supporting configurations obtain in:

• Karnataka (Honnavar, Kodagu, Kudremukh);
• Kerala (Elayur, Kozhikode’s environs, Nilambur, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruvalla, Wayanad);
• Tamil Nadu (Kanyakumari).

But Wildlife Trust of India’s 12-month, 2006-conducted camera-/fecal-trapping, night-transecting surveys suggest International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ 1978-issued prediction: extinction.

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

Malabar Large-Spotted Civet floral synecology: teak (Tectona grandis)
Conolly Plot: about 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Nilambur: PP Yoonus (00919447948124), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Conolly_Plot_1.jpg
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:Malabar_Large-spotted_Civet_area.png

Malabar Lage-Spotted Civet (Viverra civettina)
Government Museum, Chennai, Government Museum Complex, Egmore neighborhood, Chennai, Tamil Nadu: PJeganathan, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malabar_large-spotted_civet_(Viverra_civettina)_DSCN2359_(cut).jpg

Malabar Large-Spotted Civet, under synonym of Moschothera civettina
R.I. Pocock, The Fauna of British India, Vol. I Mammalia (1939), Figure 88, page 361: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/PocockMammalia1/page/n445/mode/1up

Malabar Civet, under synonym of Moschothera civettina
R.I. Pocock, The Fauna of British India, Vol. I Mammalia (1939)
A = left paw; Figure 87, page 355: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/PocockMammalia1/page/n437/mode/1up

Malabar Civet, under synonym of Moschothera civettina
R.I. Pocock, The Fauna of British India, Vol. I Mammalia (1939)
B = left hind paw; Figure 87, page 355: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/PocockMammalia1/page/n437/mode/1up

critically endangered Malabar Large-Spotted Civet's (Viverra civettina) has a somewhat similar appearance to another Western Ghats dweller, Small Indian Civet (Viverricula indica).
Both have black-and-white markings and banded tails, but Small Indian Civets are smaller than Malabar Large-Spotted Civets.
small Indian civet (Viverricula indica); Silchar, Cachar district, southernmost Assam state, northeastern India: Rejaul karim.rk, CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Small_Indian_Civet,_Silchar,_Assam,_India.jpg

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

Malabar Large-Spotted Civet, under synonym of Moschothera civettina
R.I. Pocock, The Fauna of British India, Vol. I Mammalia (1939), Plate XXVII, between pages 360-361: Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/PocockMammalia1/page/n443/mode/1up

Malabar Large-Spotted Civet floral synecology: Cashew plantations
seaport town of Kollam, Laccadive Sea Coast, Kerala state, southwestern corner of India: Abhishek Jacob, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cashew_apples.jpg

Malabar Large-Spotted Civet synceology, Kingdom of Travancore, India's southwestern tip
Kowdiar Palace, residence of the Maharajah of Travancore, Trivandrum: Manu rocks (Manu rocks at English Wikipedia), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_of_Trivandrum.jpg

Shola Grasslands and Forests in the Kudremukh National Park, Western Ghats, southwestern Karnataka, South West India: Karunakar Rayker (wildxplorer), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/krayker/2635903608/

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