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Genetta genettacommon genet(Also: small-spotted genet)

By Barbara Lundrigan and Molly Conley

Ge­o­graphic Range

The com­mon or Eu­ro­pean genet is na­tive to north­ern Africa and has also spread to Eu­rope.

Habi­tat

Com­mon genets pre­fer drier areas than other mem­bers of the genus. They pre­fer forests, as they are ex­cel­lent and agile climbers.

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Genets are long, lean car­ni­vores with a tail usu­ally at least as long as the body. They ap­pear cat­like, ex­cept for their longer faces. They usu­ally have a dark spot­ted or mar­bling pat­tern over a cream to buff col­ored back­ground. Their fur is in­cred­i­bly soft. They have semi-re­tractable claws. They are ex­tremely flex­i­ble and can enter very small spaces.

  • Range mass
    1 to 3 kg
    2.20 to 6.61 lb

Re­pro­duc­tion

Genet fe­males come into heat dur­ing the wet sea­son(s). Cop­u­la­tion, which fol­lows a fore­play last­ing up to an hour, takes only five min­utes, dur­ing which both the male and the fe­male utter "meows." Ges­ta­tion is usu­ally 10-11 weeks long, and the fe­male usu­ally gives birth to one to three kit­tens. Young are born blind and help­less. They are weaned around eight weeks, though they take small amounts of solid food be­fore that. Kits are sex­u­ally ma­ture at two years.

  • Key Reproductive Features
  • gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
  • sexual
  • Average number of offspring
    2
    AnAge
  • Average gestation period
    78 days
    AnAge
  • Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
    Sex: female
    1479 days
    AnAge

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Be­hav­ior

Genets are pri­mar­ily soli­tary an­i­mals, though male and fe­male ranges may over­lap. In­di­vid­u­als of the same sex have ex­clu­sive ter­ri­to­ries. They are noc­tur­nal and only rarely ap­pear dur­ing the day, though they are some­times re­ported as for­ag­ing at twi­light.

They are stealth hunters, much like the cats and kill with a quick bite to the neck. Their sharp claws both allow them to pin prey and to be ex­cel­lent climbers.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Food Habits

Genets are car­niv­o­rous and eat most small an­i­mals that they can catch, such as rats, mice, in­sects, small rep­tiles, and birds.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Genets help keep ver­min pop­u­la­tions down, and since they often live on the edges of a human com­mu­nity, this helps al­le­vi­ate pest prob­lems with crops.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Genets oc­ca­sion­ally con­sume game birds and poul­try, but hardly do enough dam­age to be con­sid­ered a threat to ei­ther.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

The com­mon genet is still plen­ti­ful through­out its range and seems to have lit­tle to fear in the fu­ture.

Other Com­ments

The viver­rids are com­monly re­garded as the clos­est liv­ing mam­mals to the ex­tinct com­mon an­ces­tor of the car­ni­vores. Al­though the genets are very cat­like, they also dis­play some prim­i­tive fea­tures of this an­ces­tor, mak­ing them an in­ter­est­ing study for peo­ple in­ter­ested in car­ni­vore evo­lu­tion. It is sug­gested that oth­ers in­ter­ested in this topic also re­search the civets, palm civets and lin­sangs for more in­for­ma­tion on viver­rids.

Con­trib­u­tors

Bar­bara Lun­dri­gan (au­thor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity, Molly Con­ley (au­thor), Michi­gan State Uni­ver­sity.

Glossary

Ethiopian

living in sub-Saharan Africa (south of 30 degrees north) and Madagascar.

World Map

Palearctic

living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.

World Map

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

scrub forest

scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons.

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

tactile

uses touch to communicate

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

Ref­er­ences

Grz­imek, B. 1990. Grz­imek's En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Mam­mals. New York; New York: Mc­Graw Hill.

Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Guide to Mam­mals. Bal­ti­more; MD: Johns Hop­kins Press.

O'Callaghan, P. 1971. Tiki: Our Genet Cat. New York; NY: Simon and Schus­ter.

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Classification

Classification

  • Kingdom Animalia animals
  • Phylum Chordata chordates
  • Subphylum Vertebrata vertebrates
  • Class Mammalia mammals
  • Order Carnivora carnivores
  • Family Viverridae civets, genets, linsangs, and relatives
  • Genus Genetta aquatic genet
  • Species Genetta genetta common genet