Occurrence of the brown palm civet in the wet forest of Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu

1 Pages·1997·0.63 MB·

by  T Ganesh

\
556 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. 94 (1997)
&
Joshua, J A.J.T. Johnsingh (1994): Impact of biotic Hutton, A.F. (1949): Feeding habits oftheNilgiri Marten
disturbances on the habitat and population ofthe (Charronia gwatkinsi (Horsfield) J. Bombay nat.
endangered grizzled giantsquirrelRatufamacroura Hist. Soc. 48\ 355-356.
in South India. Biol. Cons (68): 29-34.
OCCURRENCE OF THE BROWN PALM CIVET IN THE WET FOREST OF
4.
KALAKAD MUNDANTHURAI TIGER RESERVE, TAMIL NADU
The Western Ghats harbourmany rareand Cullenia exarillata andripefruits ofElaeocarpus
endemic fauna. However, distribution, status and munronii and Palaquium ellipticum whenever
ecology ofmany ofthem remain unclear. In this available andprobably serve as an important seed
note, the occurrence and status ofthebrownpalm disperser in this area.
civet Paradoxurus jerdoni) in the evergreen The civetsbreed in this area in summer. A
(.
forest of Kakachi c 1250m) in the Kalakad pair of new bom young of this civet was found
( .
Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve of south India is deep inside the forest at Kakachi in May 1992.
We
discussed. noticedthepupsbecause oftheiryelpingcall.
The brown palm civet Paradoxurus They were in the litter, blind and probably not
(
jerdoni) is endemic to the Western Ghats and is more than a week old. There was no sign of
an inhabitant of the high elevation forests injury, but unfortunately our attempts to rear
(Jerdon, 1874). Though not considered as rare them failed. Like the adults inthe area, the pups
as the endangered Malabar civet Viverra also had a white tipped tail.
(
civettina very little is known about its status or Being nocturnal and restrictedto the dense
),
distribution in the Agasthyamalai region of forest ofthe evergreenand moist deciduoustype,
the southern Western Ghats (Ashraf et al. the brown palm civet has rarely been sighted.
1993). We observed that it is an important contributor
Inthe Kakachi-Upper Kodayar area ofthe to the dynamics oftree regeneration in the wet
KMTR, thebrownpalm civet appearsto be fairly forest. Hence, continuedprotection ofthe species
common. Over the six years (1990-1996) ofour and its habitat is very essential.
stay in Kodayar, we have sighted this animal
more than ten times during the night and only Acknowledgement
twice during the day. Recentlyin April 1996, we
sighted an individual in the canopy of the I thank Dr. Ajith Kumar of Salim Ali
evergreenforest, baskinginthe sunshine atnoon Center for Ornithology and Natural History,
andlater eatingtheflowers ofCullenia exarillata Coimbatorefor identifyingthebrown palmcivet.
until late in the afternoon. This animal was The work was supported by a TERI-MacArthur
lethargic even in our presence and was probably grant.
sick.
Our sightings ofthe civethave mostlybeen March 22, 1997 T. GANESH
on or near flowering or fruiting trees during the 29, Chetty Street,
night. They regularly feed on the flowers of Pondicherry 605 001.
References
Ashraf, N.V.K., A. Kumar & A.J.T. Johnsingh (1993): Jerdon, T.C. (1874): A Handbook of the Mammals
Two endemicviverrids ofthe WesternGhats, India. of India. Repr. 1984, Mittal Publications,
Oryx 27 109-114. Delhi.