Owston's Palm Civet
Encyclopedia
Owston's palm civet 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 earthworm
s and other invertebrate
s. 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
.
The Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program, based at Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam, runs an international conservation and breeding programme for them in cooperation with various zoos including Newquay Zoo
.
Civet
The family Viverridae is made up of around 30 species of medium-sized mammal, including all of the genets, the binturong, most of the civets, and the two African linsangs....
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
Insectivore
An insectivore is a type of carnivore with a diet that consists chiefly of insects and similar small creatures. An alternate term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of eating insects....
, such as a shrew
Shrew
A shrew or shrew mouse is a small molelike mammal classified in the order Soricomorpha. True shrews are also not to be confused with West Indies shrews, treeshrews, otter shrews, or elephant shrews, which belong to different families or orders.Although its external appearance is generally that of...
. 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
Banded Palm Civet
The banded palm civet is a civet found in the tall forests of Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Though it lives in the forests, it spends much of its time on the ground....
, 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 earthworm
Earthworm
Earthworm is the common name for the largest members of Oligochaeta in the phylum Annelida. In classical systems they were placed in the order Opisthopora, on the basis of the male pores opening posterior to the female pores, even though the internal male segments are anterior to the female...
s and other invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s. 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
Alan Owston
Alan Owston was a collector of Asian wildlife, businessman and yachtsman, being also a founder of the Yokohama Yacht Club in Japan. The Owston's Civet or Owston's Palm Civet Chrotogale owstoni is one of many species named owstoni after him....
.
The Carnivore and Pangolin Conservation Program, based at Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam, runs an international conservation and breeding programme for them in cooperation with various zoos including Newquay Zoo
Newquay Zoo
Newquay Zoo is a zoological garden located in Newquay, England. The zoo was opened in Cornwall on Whit Monday May 26, 1969 by the local council , it was privately owned by Mike Thomas and Roger Martin from 1993 until 2003...
.