Owston's Palm Civet

Owston's Palm Civet
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Viverridae Subfamily: Hemigalinae Genus: Chrotogale Species: C. owstoni
Binomial name
Chrotogale owstoni (Thomas, 1912)

Owston's Palm Civet (Chrotagale owstoni) is a civet that lives in the forests and wooded lowland river basins of northern Vietnam, northern Laos, and southern China.

The Owston's Palm Civet is a mid-sized palm civet at 57 cm (23 in), plus a tail of 43 cm (17 in). With its pointed face, it is sometimes thought to resemble a large insectivore, such as a shrew. It has a tawny buff-grey body with highly contrasted black markings on its back and tail. They usually only have 4 bands on their back. The last two-thirds of the tail is completely black. They look somewhat like the Banded Palm Civet, Hemigalus derbyanus, except for that the hair on the back of their neck are not reversed, and the Owston's has spots on its legs.

Next to nothing is known about their life history in the wild, though limited information has been gathered on captive animals. They feed mostly on earthworms and other invertebrates. The mating season is apparently in late January. After a gestation period of 3 months, a litter of 1-3 young are born.

Owston's Palm Civet is named after Asian wildlife collector Alan Owston.

An international conservation and breeding programme for them exists in cooperation with the authorities at Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam working with various zoos including Newquay Zoo.

References

• Roberton, S., Timmins, R.J., Long, B., Wang Ying-Xiang & Tran Quang Phuong (2008). Chrotogale owstoni. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2008. Retrieved on 16 Oct 2008. Listed as Vulnerable (VU A2cd Ver. 3.1)

This article about a carnivoran is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e