Gorilla Reintroduction Project, Gabon

Someone had a very long night! In fact African civets (Civettictis civetta) are primarily nocturnal animals, they usually spend the day sleeping in dense vegetation. That’s why we were surprised to see an African civet walking around in middle of the afternoon!

African civets are omnivores. Small animals such as rodents, lizards, snakes and frogs make up the majority of their diet, along with insects, berries and fallen fruits that they find on the forest floor. Civetries, the latrines of African civets, may vary a lot across the species geographic range. In areas where African civets eat millipedes, civetries are characterized by dozens of exoskeletons of these arthropods. To get rid of the defensive secretions, the civets roll millipedes on the ground using rapid, alternating movements of their forepaws.

They are territorial and solitary animals who release musk, produced by perianal gland, to mark their territory and to announce readiness to mate.

African Civets are commonly found for sale as bushmeat in African markets. The species is undergoing some localised declines through hunting, including the off-take of wild animals (males) for the production of civetone, which is used as a fixing agent in the perfume industry.

Due to their cryptic behaviour, camera traps are one of the few methods we can use to study this species.