SEAVR 2020: 042‐044
ISSN: 2424‐8525
Date of publication: 12 November 2020
Hosted online by ecologyasia.com

Accidental mistnet capture of Viverra tangalunga Gray 1832 (Viverridae)
in Del Carmen Watershed, Siargao Island, Philippines
Desamarie Antonette P. FERNANDEZ and Ace Kevin S. AMARGA
dpfernandez1@up.edu.ph (Fernandez), ace_amarga061@yahoo.com (Amarga)

Collaborator: Roel Alfredo D. Ruzol.
Photograph by: Roel Alfredo D. Ruzol.
Subject identified by: Ace Kevin S. Amarga, Desamarie Antonette P. Fernandez.
Location: Barangay Esperanza, Del Carmen Watershed, Siargao Island, Philippines.
Elevation: 20 metres ASL.
Habitat: Agroforest area with a stream flowing from a cave.
Date and time: 03 October 2016, 06:00 hrs.
Identity of subject: Malay Civet, Viverra tangalunga (Mammalia: Carnivora: Viverridae).
Description of record:
During a bat survey, an adult male
Viverra tangalunga was found with
its forearms and claws entangled at
the base of a mist net. Presumably,
it had been attempting to eat thenetted bats (Fig. 1). It was released
unharmed.
Remarks:
The individual was identified as a
Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga) by
its characteristic long snout, feline‐
like appearance, alternating black
and white bands around the neck,grey‐brown body fur bearing
prominent black spots forming rows
on the dorsal area, and tail bearing
narrow, black bands (Gray 1832;
Heaney et al. 2010). The Malay civet
was first described from a specimen
retrieved from Sumatra, Indonesia(Gray1832).
The
ancestral
population of this species wasinferred to have originated from theisland of Borneo, and its current
distribution spans across theSundaic and Wallacea regions
within Southeast Asia (Veron et al.
2014).

Fig. 1.

© Roel Alfredo D. Ruzol42In the Philippines, the Malay civet has been reported from the islands of Bohol, Busuanga, Catanduanes, mainland
Luzon, mainland Mindanao, mainland Palawan, Mindoro, Negros, Panay, Samar, Sibuyan, and Siquijor (Timm andBirney 1980; Heaney et al. 1991; 2006; 2010; 2016). This report provides the first documentation of the species inDel Carmen Watershed, Siargao Island, as it was not reported in previous published surveys by Heaney & Rabor(1982) and Pedregosa‐Hospodarsky (2009). In another report by Pedregosa‐Hospodarsky (2008), there is a photoof a Malay civet captured in Siargao Island by a hunter but no other description or exact capture location was given.
This report emphasizes the value of closely monitoring mist nets to avoid predation of netted bats. The Malay
civet exhibits an omnivorous diet and is known to consume fruits, invertebrates (such as crickets, scorpions andcentipedes), birds, and rodents (Kitchener et al. 1993; Colon and Sugau 2012). It is known to inhabit a wide rangeof habitats from primary and secondary tropical forest to agricultural landscapes (Jennings and Veron, 2011).
Because of its relatively wide geographic distribution and ability to tolerate habitats with anthropogenic
disturbances, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the Malay civet under the “LeastConcern” category (Duckworth et al. 2016).
Permit: This research was authorized by the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources –Region 13 (Wildlife Gratuitous Permit No. R13‐2016‐004) and conducted through the Monitoring and Detection ofEcosystems Changes for Enhancing Resilience and Adaptation in the Philippines (MODECERA) Research Programfunded by the Grants‐in‐Aid Program of the Department of Sciences and Technology and implemented by theUniversity of the Philippines Los Baños (with which the authors are affiliated) and the Surigao State College ofTechnology – Del Carmen Campus.
References:Colon, C.P. & Sugau, J.B. (2012). Notes on the diet of the Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga) and other civets in logged
and unlogged lowland dipterocarp rainforests in Sabah, Borneo. Malayan Nature Journal 64(1): 69‐74.
Duckworth, J.W., Mathai, J., Wilting, A., Holden, J., Hearn, A. & Ross, J. (2016) Viverra tangalunga. The IUCN Red
List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T41708A45220284. Retrieved on 23 October 2020 fromhttps://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016‐1.RLTS.T41708A45220284.en
Gray, J.E. (1832). On the family of Viverridae and its generic sub‐divisions, with an enumeration of the species ofseveral new ones. Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London
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Mammals. Retrieved on 23 October 2020 fromhttp://archive.fieldmuseum.org/philippine_mammals/species_order/SP_250.asp
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Kitchener, A.C., Clegg, T., Thompson, N.M.J., Wiik, H. & Macdonald, A.A. (1993). First records of the Malay civet,Viverra tangalunga Gray 1832, on Seram with notes on the Seram bandicoot Rhynchomeles prattorum Thomas
1920. Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 58: 378‐380.
Pedregosa‐Hospodarsky, M. (2008). Developing Field Research Priorities in Negros and Panay Islands (West Visayas,Philippines), with particular reference to key threatened endemic species. Flora and Fauna International,Cambridge, UK. 28 pp.

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Pedregosa‐Hospodarsky, M. (2009). Conservation of the Dinagat Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta carbonarius) and otherthreatened endemic mammals of Dinagat Island, Dinagat Province, Philippines, distribution and status survey, final
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Timm, R.M. & Birney, E.C. (1980). Mammals collected by the Menage Scientific Expedition to the Philippine Islandsand Borneo, 1890‐1893. Journal of Mammalogy 61: 566‐571.
Veron, G., Willsch, M., Dacosta, V., Patou, M., Seymour, A., Bonillo, C., Couloux, A., Wong, S.T., Jennings, A.P., Fickel,
J. & Wilting, A. (2014). The distribution of the Malay civet Viverra tangalunga (Carnivora: Viverridae) acrossSoutheast Asia: natural or human‐ mediated dispersal? Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 170(4): 917‐932.

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