Species: Common Palm Civet, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Pallas)
Use: General Activity
Authors: Hema Krishnakumar & M. Balakrishnan
Department of Zoology,
RESTING - postures: The
period of inactivity irrespective of whether the animal kept its eyes open or
closed. The animal breathes at a low pace and suspends all other
activities.
Squat: The body
is crouched with the metatarsus of the hind legs placed on the ground.
The forefeet are placed close to the hind legs. In this position,
the tail, the metatarsus of the hind legs and the forepaws are placed in
contact with the ground.
Perch: The animal sits on a resting spot, such as the
branch of a tree. The perching position
is usually quite high. When certain novel objects or sounds are
perceived, the animal remains in this perching position till the object
disappears from view.
Watch: One
animal idly observes another or any object. The eye and head movements
track what it is watching.
Stare:
Similar to watching. The animal stares in one particular direction for a
long time and is not easily distracted by any other activity. Usually directed at the eyes of another individual. Observed in squatting, quadrupedal stance
and in lying postures.
Rest alert: Sitting
or lying down with eyes wide open and ears pointed. Highly
attentive.
Lie: The animal lies down with the body curled up. The
head is placed such that the cheek touches the substratum. Also rest on
belly. The forepaws are placed under the chest and the neck is fully extended.
The eyes are either open or closed (Ewer & Wemmer,
1974). At times, the animal lies down with its hind legs fully extended
on the substratum. In this position, the forelegs are tucked under the
chest. Usually, the animal rests in a reclining posture before going to
sleep. It also grooms during resting.
Sleep: The
animal sleeps in a curled up position. It positions its head near the base of
the tail or on the body of another animal. In this position, limbs and
tail are tucked up. This position helps them remain obscure and safe.
Sleeping in any other posture would result in their detection by
predators during their long sleeping hours during the day, as the palm civets
are strictly nocturnal.
Communal sleep: All
individuals in the group irrespective of age, sex or social status huddle
together and go to sleep during the day. This is not observed during
nocturnal resting periods.
FEEDING: Activities involved in obtaining, handling and
ingesting food. At times, the animal is involved in active hunting or
foraging.
Pounce: Springing
motion in order to catch the prey. On
perceiving the sound of an insect, the animal stops all its ongoing activities,
pounces upon stealthily, catches and eats it. The palm civets adopt the
killing bite as in the case of the
Dig:
The animal digs up mud using
forepaws to unearth worms and insects.
Snatch food: One animal snatches the food item from the mouth of
another individual.
Eat: Food is taken into the mouth,
chewed on both sides of the jaw and then swallowed. If the piece of food
taken into the mouth is large, the head is tilted backwards and the food is
chewed on both sides of the jaw and then swallowed. The preferred food
items such as bananas, insects and fishes are taken by the animal to an
isolated spot and eaten in leisure. Eating in palm civets is neither
continuous nor at random but occurs clustered at certain time periods as
predicted by Berdoy (1993).
Drink: The
animal laps up water with the emission of a ‘kluk-kluk’
sound. Drinking is not always associated with eating.
COMFORT BEHAVIOR: The behavior patterns that enhance the animal’s
comfort and body care are designated as comfort behavior.
Lick: The
chest, stomach, back, flank, legs, tail and the anogenital
area are licked to remove dirt, ectoparasites and to
clean up the body surface. The animal licks its paws after scratching
over the body. Licking is never
restricted to one particular region.
Licking of the body follows a particular sequence with the head first
and the tail and anogenital areas later on.
Nibble: Nibbling
occurs interspersed with the licking of a particular region. The animal
brings its teeth in contact with the fur and quickly bites away to clean the
surface. The legs and the tail are usually nibbled.
Scratch:
Toenails are used to scratch the different body parts. Toenails of
the foreleg are used to scratch the head, neck, ear and mouth (Ever & Wemmer, 1974; Wemmer, 1977). Toenails of the hind legs are used to scratch
the back and flanks. Scratching occurs only during squatting or standing
positions.
Head wipe: Observed
after eating or when resting. The animal brings either one (Wemmer,
1977) or both of its forelegs on to either side of the head and wipes the face,
head and cheek inwards from the base of the ear. When the forepaws reach the mouth, they are
licked before the next stroke (Düker, 1965).
Stretch: Stretching
occurs when an animal emerges out of its sleeping quarters. The forelegs
and the hind legs are extended while in standing position with the arching of
the back. At times, the forelegs and the neck are first extended
resulting in a slight concave arching of the back; followed by the hind legs.
The animal takes a few steps forward, accompanied by the stretching of the
tail.
Yawn: The head
is held back, the eyes are closed, the mouth is opened widely for a short time
and the tongue curled up. Occurs only when the animal
is in a resting state.
Shake: The
animal quivers its body immediately after scratching a particular region. Shaking
the body also occurs when fur is wet. The shaking movement is from the
tail region to the head region.
Pant: Observed
when the animal trots rapidly for a long time. The animal breathes
rapidly and heavily and gasps in between. It probably aids in
thermoregulation and usually subsides only after resting.
Head and neck rub: The
animal sits and rubs its head and neck on a horizontal surface or on a vertical
bar. It rotates its head at all angles to facilitate rubbing.
Sharpen claw: The
animal hooks the extended claws on to the base of an object like wood. The legs are then tensed and the claws are
retracted (Mellen, 1993).
Anal drag: This act
is performed after defecation and occurs in response to voiding of unusually
soft feces. The anal region is pressed onto the ground by assuming a
squatting posture and pulling the body forward.
Flank wipe: During
mastication of food items like mice, rats and fish, which are partly putrefied,
the animal wipes both the flanks with the food till it becomes wet and sticky (Wemmer, 1977).
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR: Those instances where one individual
evokes behavioral responses in another individual.
Approach: One
animal walks up to one or more animals and focuses visually.
Nose touch: Two animals touch each other's noses, accompanied by
allosniffing.
Allosniff: One animal olfactorily
senses the body of another. It may be only one region of the body at a
time.
Allogroom: One animal grooms the body of another with
teeth or tongue. Often, the other individual reciprocates this. Usually observed only during resting.
Play: Play
occurs mainly but not exclusively in juveniles. Jumping, running about
and fighting in a non-aggressive manner are referred to as play behavior.
Mouth is wide open during play fighting, but no biting or no one is hurt
in this process.
SCENT MARKING: Odorous substances produced by an animal are
transferred on to any of the environmental signposts or on to another
individual.
Urine mark/ Urination: Urination
can be a form of scent marking or an act of voiding urine. A squatting quadrupedal stance is assumed for voiding urine. The
dominant animal urine marks regularly. The subordinate animals void urine
during fighting. The dominant male in the group regularly drip urinates.
Feces mark/ Defecation: Defecation
can also be a form of scent marking or the act to excrete feces. Defecation occurs in squatting posture. The
tail is slightly raised and is pushed up and down upon completion. Anal
dragging follows this act.
Perineal mark: The animal assumes the quadrupedal
stance, presses the perineal gland on a substratum or
on the ground and drags it at random intervals.
Passive scent emission: During
fight, fright and alarm, the animal emits a noxious scent. After the
emission of the scent, the animal spends considerable time licking the anogenital area. It is inferred that the anal glands
are the probable source of the scent.
The secretion of the anal gland has repelling properties (Jerdan, 1984; Lembcke &
Schliemann, 1991).
Over mark: The
dominant animal scent marks over areas previously marked by the subordinate
ones.
VOCALIZATION: The animals use specific vocal communication
signals in different social and environmental situations. Vocalization is
usually associated with agonistic and reproductive behaviors.
Cough: It
sounds like sneezing and could be mistaken for a sneeze. Emitted when the animal is in an agitated state.
Usually 2-3 such sounds are emitted in one bout.
Growl: It is a
low rumbling, menacing sound from the throat. Produced only during expiration
and is associated with agonistic behavior.
Scream: It is a
loud sound of very high intensity made by the rough handling of young animals,
when an animal is in pain or when another animal attacks and injures it. During
screaming, the mouth is opened widely, lips are retracted and the eyes dilated.
Purr: Purring is a low intensity sound produced by the
young ones (Mellen, 1993). Purring occurs
during suckling and in other animals during consumption of food items like
banana, papaya, insects and fish.
AGONISTIC BEHAVIOR: Aggressive threat, appeasement and avoidance
behavior that occurs between members of the group.
Mouth threat: The
animal gapes its mouth at another animal. No sound is made.
Chase: One
animal pursues another with the intention of attacking. The pursuer
coughs and growls in the process. Chasing lasts till the pursuer is
caught up.
Flee: Rapidly
running away from the pursuer.
Pounce: One
animal leaps on another.
Piloerection: During aggression, the hair on the dorsal
skin of the attacker gets erect and the animal appears larger. The animal
remains in this state till aggression is over.
Wrestle: The
pursuing animal comes to a stationary posture and first strikes the recipient
using its snout. One or both the animals clasp the other with their hind
legs and/or their forelegs. During this act, the belly of one animal
touches the belly/back of the other.
Fight: Fighting follows wrestling.
Screaming, urination and passive scent emission usually accompany fighting.
The attacker bites its enemy and inflicts injury on it.
REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOR: Reproductive behavior is referred to all
the courtship rituals and the sexual acts that follow it. Observed only
when one of the females' is in estrous. Usually only the dominant male is
involved in the act along with the female in
heat.
Sniff the female: The male
follows the female, sniffing her anogenital area so
as to ascertain her sexual status.
Flehmen: Following the female, the male olfactorily
senses or licks the perineal gland, vagina or the
urine of an estrous female. It opens its mouth, closes its nostrils, and
exposes its teeth by curling up the lips. The head is then jerked back.
Coyness: The pre-copulatory play where the female in estrous makes a
peculiar crying sound and flees from the pursuing male.
Mount: The
estrous female lowers her body allowing the pursuing male to mount from sides.
Copulation: The
actual process of mating. During this process, the receptive female lies
down on the ground, raises her hindquarters and allows the pursuing male to
mount on her from the back. The male then grasps the groin of the female
with its hind legs and copulates. The lordotic
posture in the female is seen with intromission. Simultaneously, the male bites
the neck of the female.
SNIFFING BEHAVIOR: Sniffing is referred to the process whereby
the animal perceives the environmental stimuli through olfaction. During this
process, air is drawn into the nose in quick succession. A slight head
bobbing frequently accompanies sniffing (Wemmer,
1977).
Sniff air: To
detect the odor in the air.
Sniff food: Usually
sniff the food before eating. The entire
food is sniffed and then it takes its choicest food item to an isolated spot
and eats in leisure.
Sniff ground: The
animal sniffs the ground to detect insects, worms and other organisms.
Such sniffing lasts till the organism is detected.
Sniff air in bipedal stance:
The animal stands on the metatarsus of the hind legs or on the toes of
the hind leg with the body extended vertically and sniffs in this position.
This act is mainly observed when insects fly around or when insects are perched
high up.
Sniff objects: The
animal perceives by olfaction. It stops
all its ongoing activities for a while and sniffs the object.
LOCOMOTION: Voluntary movement with the ability to displace the
whole body.
Trot: The left
foreleg and the right hind leg are lifted simultaneously. The right
foreleg together with the left hind leg follows this (Ever & Wemmer, 1974).
Walk: The left
foreleg follows the left hind foot and the right foreleg follows the right hind
leg. This sequence remains consistent (Wemmer, 1977).
Pace: The animal trots rapidly over a short distance of
roughly 20-ft before turning around and repeating it.
Climb: The palm
civets climb trees. The claws of the toes are used to clasp support while
climbing up and down. They usually descend half way and then jump down.
Jump: The
animal first adopts a stationary posture, where the metatarsus of the hind legs
touches the substratum. Then, it pushes its body forwards, extends the
forelimbs forward and lands on its forefeet. The animal jumps from one
platform to another or from an elevated position to the ground.
Run: The leg
sequence is similar to trotting, but is faster.
Explore: The
animal sniffs the ground and walks around. The stepping sequence is the same as
that of walking.
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