Malayan Civet

Quick Take

• The Malayan Civet looks strikingly like a big cat, though its closest relatives will surprise you. Explore its classification →
• Valued as a resource and hunted as a pest at the same time, this animal faces a complicated relationship with humans. How does it navigate living beside them? See human-civet conflicts →
• Sometimes civet mothers do something shocking right after giving birth that defies typical maternal instinct. Discover the birth behavior →
• This species thrives where most wildlife collapses. What makes it so resilient to deforestation? See its habitat resilience →

The Malayan Civet is common in Southeast Asia but is native to the Malay Peninsula. Also known as the Malay Civet and Oriental Civet, it inhabits the rainforests and tropical jungles of the Malay Peninsula and islands such as Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines, with its range extending across Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Singapore. It is valued for food and musk but treated as a pest when dwelling near people.

Incredible Malayan Civet Facts

• It is one of the species that can be tamed and kept to extract musk.
• This species was introduced to the Maluku Islands, which lie east of the Malay Peninsula.
• It is ground-dwelling, but will climb trees if necessary.
• It has adapted to deforestation and to other habitats.
• The 15 black bands on its tail give it more camouflage.

Classification and Scientific name

The Malayan Civet’s scientific name is Viverra tangalunga. Tangalunga refers to the species. Viverra is the genus of civets. It is a genus of the family Viverridae, which consists of small to medium-sized mammals known as viverrids (civets and genets) and contains approximately 14 to 20 genera, which are subdivided into 33 to 34 species.

Common to all viverrids are feet with four or five toes and retractable claws. Each jaw has six incisors and molars in front of two tubercular grinders in the upper jaw, with one grinder in the lower jaw. The tongue is rough and prickly. There is no cecum. There are two subspecies of Malayan Civet: Viverra tangalunga lankavensis and Viverra tangalunga tangalunga.

Civets fall into the Feliformia (also known as Feloidea) suborder of the order Carnivora, as do cats, hyenas, mongooses, and other cat-like carnivorans. They are not cats, but they belong to the same suborder, Feliformia, making them more closely related to cat-like carnivores such as hyenas and mongooses than to weasels. However, they are more primitive and have less diversity than Felidae (cats).

Appearance

Like other civets, this species has whiskers, a long, slender, and sleek body, similar feet, teeth, and other shared physical features. Its fur resembles the coloring and pattern of a cheetah. Its long tail has a vertical black stripe on top and bands underneath against pale fur. The rest of its fur has black spots.

It has a somewhat pointed snout, and its fur is black combined with brown, grey, yellow, tan, or white. The feet are all black. Malayan Civets have an average weight of 3 to 7 kg (6.6 to 15.4 lb), a body length of 58.5 to 95 cm (23 to 37.4 in), and a tail length of 30 to 48.2 cm (11.8 to 19 in). Females have two or three pairs of teats, while males have a baculum.

Behavior

Malayan Civets are solitary, territorial creatures. They come out at night to hunt for food on the forest floor. They also climb trees to hunt for food or to hide from predators. During the day, they are sedentary and sleep under the cover of trees. They hunt by stalking and pouncing on their prey. When threatened or communicating with other civets by scent, they secrete a musk called civet or civetone from their perianal glands. They are not aggressive unless cornered.

Habitat

The Malayan Civet’s native habitat is the rainforests and tropical jungles of the Malay Peninsula and the surrounding islands of the Riau Archipelago, Borneo, Banggi, Langkawi, and Penang. It also lives in Sumatra, Sulawesi, the Indonesian islands of Java, Bawal and Telok Pai, and the Philippine island of Leyte.

Its range of habitats has expanded beyond primary forests to include the disturbed land of secondary forests along with brush, grasslands, and mountain forests. They also live near villages in order to steal poultry, but never far from trees. The mean range overlap of territories among civets is 15% for males and 0% for females, while the home range of each male overlaps one or two females. The species enjoys high altitudes and has had habitats up to 3,609 feet (1,100 m) high.

Diet

The favorite prey of the Malayan Civet is mice, rats, and other rodents. Eggs, lizards, snakes, frogs, insects, and other small creatures from the forest floor also make up the bulk of its diet. However, they also eat fruit and some roots, so while they rely on protein from small vertebrates and invertebrates, they are omnivorous. For example, they enjoy the seed pods of the Rain Tree, the fruits of the Fishtail Palm, mangoes, bananas, and sapota.

Predators and Threats

Malayan Civets may compete with palm civets in logged forests over food. Timber harvesting in Borneo for palm oil plantations threatens their habitat. The species is a predatory animal but has many predators that are larger carnivores, including large cats such as tigers and leopards and large reptiles such as large snakes and crocodiles.

It also risks being snared or trapped at ground level, as well as being hunted by dogs. However, the species persists and adapts in spite of general levels of threat. People treat it as a pest that raids fruit, poultry, and other small livestock, and occasionally hunt it for food.

Reproduction, Babies, and Lifespan

Males and females come together for mating, and the females raise the young. Females reproduce twice a year and give birth in dense vegetation, hollow tree trunks, or holes in the ground. Gestation lasts a couple of months. Litters have up to 4 kittens, but 2 on average. Sometimes, the mothers eat their young right after giving birth. The kittens are born with fur and eyes closed and are weaned after a month. They can crawl at birth, and their hind legs can support them after about 5 days. They start venturing out on their own two or three months after birth.

Malayan Civets on average live 5 to 12 years and even up to 20 years. Such an age is rare; most civets live between 5 and 12 years, with very few reaching 15 to 20 years.

Population

The density of Malayan Civet populations is greater in unlogged forests than in logged ones. The species’ secretiveness makes it difficult to determine their population, but their numbers remain stable. Their conservation status is listed as both “vulnerable” and “not threatened,” while the IUCN Red List states it is of “least concern.” They are treated as a pest in rural areas of the Malay Peninsula. Under Section 55 of the WPA of 1972, farmers can shoot any threatening wild animal after making a reasonable effort to frighten it away.

Malayan Civet In the Zoo

The Malayan Civet lives about 12 years in captivity. It is often housed with other viverrid species, such as other civets or genets. Their enclosures are large, filled with shrubbery, tall grasses, artificial caves, and many types of elevated spots and hiding places. When rescued young, they require round-the-clock care. This species is one of the attractions at zoos not only in Southeast Asian countries but also in Europe, including Hungary, France, and the UK.