After 129 years, the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphrodites) has reappeared in Odisha. Wildlife experts discovered one in Satkosia Tiger Reserve (STR) in the Angul district.
On March 13, 2020, the Asian palm civet was caught in a camera trap in STR. The discovery was published in the Zoo journal on June 21.
According to Gatikrushna Behera, a wildlife researcher of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, a partial albino common palm civet, Saliapatani, was last observed in the forests of Kandhamal district in 1891 by a wildlife researcher.
The common palm civet is a small mammal of the Viverridae family.
It can be found in Asia’s south and southeast. Their thick, shaggy hair is usually grey and covers their large, stocky body. Except for short period during mating, it is assumed to enjoy a solitary life.
It is both terrestrial and arboreal. Its activity is nocturnal, peaking between late evening and after midnight. It is most active at dawn, but less active at night when the moon is brightest, according to Behera.
Satkosia’s vegetation resembles north Indian wet deciduous forest, northern tropical dry deciduous woodland, and moist peninsular low-level Sal. The terrain is undulating.
The images captured by the camera traps were used to track tiger movement and distribution of prey. According to the photo collection, the body below the shoulders had creamish-whitish fur with no obvious marks or patches.
Similarly, there was no pattern or coloring on the tails or legs. Only the fur behind the ears, behind the eyes, and close to the muzzle was pigmented. Behera noted that white patches on the head below the eyes were visible.
Some rare specimens collected from Kandhamal in the pre-Independence era had only the head and shoulders ordinarily colored and the rest of their body was white. According to the researchers who have been conducting the study in the western Satkosia since 2018.
They were classified as subspecies nictitans in 1891 after being characterized as slightly albinistic. Two other specimens from this region were admitted as a potentially separate race. They had a broad band of white fur and some white sections of the tail.
Similarly, a new species, Paradoxurus jorandensis, was named after specimens collected near the tiger reserve in 1988 that had unusual patterns.
