Welcome back to another exciting and fun-filled week of Wild Facts. Before we get started I wanted to personally thank everyone for the nice heart-felt Birthday Wishes. I had a great birthday weekend and I hope all of you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did. We are going to start this wonderful week off with a cute, furry mammal called the Masked Palm Civet. This little creature can be found throughout the forests of south-east Asia and across the Indian sub-continent.
The Masked Palm Civet are solitary, nocturnal and arboreal animals which basically means they are loners that hang out in the trees during the night. During the day this particular Civet will create “day beds” which are often found in the top 10% of the tree and close to a water body. They like these particular day beds so much that they spend about 80% of their time in them. What a tough life they lead!
I am not sure how they are able to get a good “days” rest when they have so many predators out there looking for a quick meal. Some of their worst enemies include tigers, leopards, hawks, jaguars and of course humans. Luckily this nuts, berry and insect eating animal has a couple of tricks up their sleeve for would-be predators. Technically I suppose this trick is found in another part of their body instead of their sleeve. The Masked Palm Civet is able to produce a noxious smelling chemical with their powerful anal glands. This horrible scent is definitely a deterrent to predators and it is believed that their facial mask is a warning sign to everyone in the area. And here I thought that mask was used for robbing banks and other nefarious activities. If a predator doesn’t get sick from the horrible stench than the Civet needs to rely on its excellent climbing abilities to escape the clutches of death.
Masked Palm Civet – Humans may not be afraid of their horrible scent but the Masked Palm Civet has come up with another method to deter humans. It is believed that this particular animal is at least partly responsible for the transfer of SARS to humans. Anyone living in Toronto will remember the whole SARS disease incidents. Perhaps the Civet didn’t willingly pass this disease on but you just never know. How can you trust an animal wearing a mask, right?
Enjoy the rest of your Monday folks and I will see all of you back here tomorrow for another thrilling Wild Fact!
Sources:
Lundrigan, B. and S. Baker. 2003. “Paguma larvata” (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed August 22, 2010 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Paguma_larvata.html.
