Otter civet
species of mammal
The otter civet (Cynogale bennettii) is a semiaquatic viverrid native to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. It is believed to be undergoing severe population decline due to habitat destruction and is classified as an endangered species by the IUCN Red List.
Cynogale is a monospecific genus.
Characteristics
The otter civet possesses webbed feet, which is an adaptation to its aquatic habitat. Its long, stiff whiskers may be used for foraging.
Distribution and habitat
Otter civets are distributed in Sumatra, Borneo and peninsular Thailand. Lowland primary forest is apparently the ideal habitat for the species, although it is also known to occur in secondary forest. Their presence in northern Vietnam is uncertain.
They are believed to prefer peat swamp forests, but have been sighted at low elevations in tropical dry forests.
In March 2005, an otter civet was photographed by a camera trap within an acacia plantation in central Sarawak during 1,632 trap-nights.
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This entry incorporates text from “Otter civet” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.