Nandinia binotata

Geographic Range

African palm civets are widely distributed across the equatorial region of Africa. They are found in the southern half of West Africa and in most of Central and East Africa. They are found as far northwest as Senegal and as far northeast as Kenya. They range to Angola in the southeast and to Mozambique in the southwest. They have also been discovered on Unguja Island off the coast of Tanzania. There are four sub-species of African palm civets. Nandinia binotata binotata is found in main forest blocks from Gambia south and east to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nandinia binotata arborea occurs in an isolated group in East Africa (Kenya, southern Sudan, northern Tanzania and Uganda). Nandinia binotata gerrardi is found south of N. b. arborea , in former Nyassaland (Malawi, Mozambique, and portions of Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Zambia). Nandinia binotata intensa is found in the southern portion of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and in Zambia.

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian ethiopian
  • native native

Habitat

African palm civets mainly live in rainforests but are found in other wooded areas that have a minimum rainfall of 1,000 mm (40 inches) per year and have fruit-bearing trees year-round. They are found in deciduous forests, lowland rainforests, and mountainous areas that are under 2,000 m (6,500 ft), and riparian forests, savanna woodlands, and logged and second-growth forests. They have also been known to visit cultivated fields bordering forest edges. They find shelter in many places such as holes, crevices, the forks of trees, or tangled vines. They are also sometimes found sleeping in gutters, thick undergrowth in farm and village margins, woodpiles, old dead trees, pits of dead leaves, thatched roofs and overgrown shrubbery in rubbish dumps due to the expansion of human developments.

• Habitat Regions
• tropical tropical
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland savanna or grassland
• forest forest
• rainforest rainforest
• scrub forest scrub forest

• Other Habitat Features
• riparian riparian

Physical Description

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

Reproduction

African palm civets breed twice a year during the rainy seasons. One male will breed with multiple females who live in home ranges that overlap his home range.

• Mating System
• polygynous polygynous

Male and female African palm civets can breed twice a year, typically during rainy seasons. After the female becomes pregnant, she goes through 9 weeks of gestation with birth happening around May and October. Female civets typically give birth in a hollow tree to 2 offspring, each weighing about 55 g, but can have up to 4 offspring at a time. After about 64 days, baby civets are weaned and then the young accompany the mother when she forages until they are nearly adult size. After an average of 3 years, both males and females reach the age of sexual maturity.

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• seasonal breeding seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• viviparous viviparous

The young are provided with milk from the mother for an average of 64 days and then will accompany the mother until they are almost full grown.

• Parental Investment
• female parental care female parental care
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • female
• post-independence association with parents

Lifespan/Longevity

There is not much known about the lifespan of African palm civets in the wild, but they have lived in captivity for up to 21 years.

Behavior

African palm civets are solitary animals, but individuals have overlapping home ranges. Many civets forage in the same areas as other civets do. They are nocturnal creatures that are typically most active shortly after nightfall for 3 to 4 hours and then active again 3 to 4 hours before the sunrise. During the day, African palm civets can be found hiding or sleeping. Both males and females are territorial, using scent markings to establish their territories.

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal arboreal
• terricolous
• nocturnal nocturnal
• crepuscular crepuscular
• motile motile
• sedentary sedentary
• solitary solitary
• territorial territorial

Home Range

Although generally solitary, a dominant male will have a home range that overlaps the home ranges of several females.

Communication and Perception

Most communication is through scent markings and sounds. African palm civets have many scent glands. The main scent gland is on the lower abdomen; it secretes a large amount of a brown musk. There are other glands on the bottom of the chin and feet that secrete a scent that has been described as having a floral or fruity smell. There is another scent gland that is on the belly of a lactating mother. This gland stains the young with a bright yellow color, but the exact reason for this is unknown. African palm civets make many different sounds. They are most known for their unique hooting calls. When talking to other palm civets they make loud mewing and clucking sounds, and they have the ability to purr. When threatened these civets can growl and they have a loud scream and bark.

• Communication Channels
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• scent marks scent marks

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

African palm civets are omnivores. They live in areas that produce fruit almost year around. Some of the fruit the palm civet eat come from umbrella trees ( Musanga ), sugar plums ( Uapaca ), corkwood ( Myrianthus ), wild figs ( Fica ), as well as the fleshy pulp from oil palms ( Elaeis guineensis ). Even though fruit is an important part of their diet, African palm civets are opportunistic; they will supplement their diet with whatever other foods they find. They eat rodents, insects, lizards, bats, birds, eggs, and hatchlings. African palm civets are also known to eat carrion. They will even raid farms for small livestock, including chickens, lambs, goat kids, and turkeys. These civets catch prey by stalking and then pouncing. Once the prey is caught they bite the prey repeatedly and eat large pieces.

• Primary Diet
• omnivore omnivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• reptiles
• eggs
• carrion carrion
• insects

• Plant Foods
• fruit

Predation

The only known predator of African palm civets is humans. They have incredible camouflage; blending into the trees very well. If these civets are seen and feel threatened, they will fight. Since humans often bring domestic dogs with them for protection when traveling through forests, there have been encounters between civets and domestic dogs - and African palm civets have been known to win fights against domestic dogs.

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic cryptic

Ecosystem Roles

African palm civets prey on many different animals in their environment. They also disperse seeds through the forest from the fruit that they eat. They are a known reservoir for Trypanosoma brucei : a protozoan that causes African sleeping sickness in humans, resulting in the victim falling into a coma and eventually leading to death. African palm civets are just one of many species of animals that carry this protozoan. However African palm civets are not affected by this parasite.

• Ecosystem Impact
• disperses seeds

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

In some areas African palm civets are hunted by humans and used for meat and medicines. The fur is used for clothes, hats, and other accessories. In other areas these civets can be helpful pest managers: preying on rodents found in farmlands.

• Positive Impacts
• food food
• body parts are source of valuable material
• source of medicine or drug source of medicine or drug
• controls pest population

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

Local communities see African palm civets as mostly an annoyance, but they are sometimes feared. They are described as a food thief because they sometimes catch livestock. When in close contact, African palm civets will bite, but typically only when they are startled or their sleep is disturbed. African palm civets also negatively impact humans because they are a carrier of Trypanosoma brucei .

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings
  • carries human disease

Conservation Status

African palm civets are listed by the IUCN with a status of Least Concern because they have a large geographic range and live in many protected areas. There is some concern related to habitat destruction (due to the rise in agriculture in the area) and hunting of these civets.

Other Comments

African palm civets are the only members of the Nandiniidae family. They have previously been classified with Asian civets ( Viverridae , subfamily Paradoxurinae ), and seemed to be more closely related to them than to other African civets (also in the Viverridae family). However, recent analyses suggest that African palm civets have more primitive characters than other civets, and diverged early from the remaining civets, supporting their placement in a distinct family.

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Samantha Kotelnicki (author), Sierra College, Jennifer Skillen (editor), Sierra College, Tanya Dewey (editor), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

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