Context
-
Recently, East Godavari Wildlife Management authorities have rescued three small Indian civets (Viverricula indica).
About Small Indian civets
- The small Indian civet is a prolific consumer of fruits, mostly in the coconut orchids and banana plantations and other horticulture fields. It occupies abandoned places for breeding.
- The small Indian civet is a monotypic genus
- Poaching or hunting of the small Indian civet is prohibited under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- The species is marked ‘Least Concern’, according to the conservation status of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and listed on CITES Appendix III
- In 2008, a small Indian civet was recorded for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir’s Dachigam National Park.
- In Tamil Nadu’s Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, it was recorded foremost in grassland, riverine areas and sighted near a tea plantation during surveys in 2002.
- In India’s Western Ghats, small Indian civets were observed in Tamil Nadu’s Anamalai and Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserves, and in Kerala’s Parambikulam and Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuaries during surveys in 2008.
- In Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, it was recorded in deciduous, semi-evergreen and thorn forests, and in the dry season also at a water hole near a village.
Species in News: Click here