Philippine Palm Civet - A disappearing Viverrid in Palawan lowlands

     Paradoxurus philippinensis (Jourdan, 1837) or the Philippine Palm Civet is getting scarce in Palawan. It used to be abundant in primary and second-growth forest, but conversion of its natural habitat to farmland pushed them deeper in the mountains. These wild animals are nocturnal in habit, solitary in nature and mainly arboreal. They are omnivorous, but usually favored fruits. The Philippine Palm Civets sometimes feed on birds and small rodents and when its natural wild food get scarce, it also visits the immediate vicinity of farmhouses and prey on chickens.

      Most farmers here misunderstood these animals, considered them a threat to poultry and were often trapped or shot in sight. This kind of civet always prefer fruits if it's available. I used to breed fighting cocks at my father's farm and I've observed this civet feeding habit several times in the past. Different kinds of fruit bearing trees were abundant in the farm, civet always goes for fruits and never wandered near chicken pens.

A male Philippine Palm Civet.

      This male civet was photographed at the farm. The graceful animal was resting on a branch after having feasted on a ripe Marang fruit. It's usually easy to tell if a civet was around because of their strong smell. The sound of falling seeds on dried leaves alerted me and I went out to investigate. The smell almost similar to burnt butter confirmed my suspicion that it's a civet. I returned inside the house, picked up my camera and moved slowly under the tree to have a clear line of shot. It was perched too high for the built-in camera flash. The image was dark, Adobe Lightroom did its job.