Brown Palm Civet

• Context (PJ): A rare brown palm civet was seen in the Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary.

About Brown Palm Civet

• The brown palm civet (Paradoxurus jerdoni) also called the Jerdon’s palm civet is a palm civet endemic to the Western Ghats of India.
• Physical description: It has a uniformly brown pelage, darker around the head, neck, shoulder, legs, and tail. Unlike other civets, brown palm civets have no distinct facial markings.
• Distinctive feature: Reversed direction of hair growth on the nape, similar to the golden palm civet.
• Distribution: From Castle Rock in Goa to the southern tip of the Western Ghats in Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve.
• Habitat: They are nocturnal, arboreal, small carnivores that thrive in the high-altitude tropical rainforests of the Western Ghats in India. They prefer an altitudinal range of 500 to 1,300 m.
• Diet: They are predominantly frugivorous, with a diet consisting of 97% fruit.
• Conservation Status: IUCN: Least Concern | CITES: Appendix III
• Ecological significance: Their ability to disperse seeds over an extensive range and thrive in fragmented habitats could play a role in restoring patches of degraded forest in the Western Ghats.