Brown palm civet
Jerdon - Musang ( Paradoxurus jerdoni )
The Jerdon - Musang ( Paradoxurus jerdoni ) is a civet of the genus Musangs ( Paradoxurus ). The distribution is restricted to southern India, where it occurs in the Western Ghats.
Features
The Jerdon - Musang reaches a head-body length of 43 to 62 cm with a tail length of 38-53 centimeters. The body weight of 3.6 to 4.3 kilograms. The body color is uniform brown, with the range of head, neck and shoulders and the legs and tail are colored darker. The brown coloration is relatively variable, ranging from a pale sandy brown and light brown tone to a very dark brown, occasionally the coat is partially gray. The tail may have a white or yellowish tail.
Unlike the Civet ( Paradoxurus hermaphroditus ) he has no drawing on the body or face. It has about the same size as the Civet, but the tail is longer and smoother. As with Goldmusang ( Paradoxurus zeylonensis ) hackles up against the grain to the head instead of the rear end.
Dissemination
The distribution area of the Jerdon - Musangs restricted to southern India, where it occurs in the Western Ghats. The exact distribution is not known, since the animals are mainly nocturnal and live in the trees. The height distribution is generally more than 1,000 meters, where he was, however, also been observed at altitudes of about 700 meters.
Way of life
The Jerdon - Musang is nocturnal and lives primarily in heavily evergreen and moist woodlands and partly also in coffee plantations, where he is mainly in trees ( arboreal ). It occurs both in undisturbed forest habitats as well as in forest remnants surrounded by tea plantations and near human dwellings. The Jerdon - Musang lives partly sympatric with the related Civet. Here, the habitats of these two species in the drier forest areas overlap, while in the rainforest areas only Jerdon - Musang and the surrounding dry areas only the Civet occurs.
It feeds mainly on fruits, with about 40 different food plants are known. He also hunts small birds, mammals and insects.
Taxonomy and systematics
The Jerdon - Musang was scientifically described in 1885 by William Thomas Blanford in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for the first time.
He is recognized as a separate species within the genus of Musangs ( Paradoxurus ). In addition to the nominate subspecies is described with a second Paradoxurus jerdoni caniscus.
Threat and protection
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources ( IUCN) classified the species since 2008 as " not at risk " ( Least concern ), since they obviously can very well adapt to changing and disturbed habitats themselves. Previous assessments of 1994, 1996 and 2000 led to a classification as "endangered" ( vulnerable ). Little is known about the actual population size, however, the species is in their habitat in undisturbed forest areas above 1,000 meters as relatively frequently.
However, the species lives in a very limited area and is very strongly affected by the change in the agricultural use of coffee and cardamom plantations to tea plantations; while the animals can live in the former, this is not possible in tea plantations. Habitat loss, however, are not considered sufficient to justify classification of the species in a hazard class; another observation is advised.