Cynogale bennettii Gray 1837
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Carnivora
Viverridae
Cynogale
Cynogale bennettii

description: 31.
Otter Civet
Cynogale bennettii
French: Civette loutre / German: Otterzivette / Spanish: Civeta pescadora
Taxonomy. Cynogale bennettii Gray, 1837,
Sumatra.
Included here is Lowe’s Otter Civet (C. lower), which is only known from the type specimen, a poorly preserved juvenile skin from north Vietnam. Monotypic.
Distribution. Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, and Borneo. There is one skin from N Vietnam (Tonkin, the type locality of C. lowei) and a possible skin record in China (S Yunnan).
However, there have been no further confirmed records from these two areas.
Descriptive notes. Head—body 57.5-68 cm, tail 12-20. 5 cm, hindfoot 10.2-11. 1 cm; weight 3-5 kg. A dark brown civet, with a short tail and a grizzled appearance (the tips of the guard hairs are gray). The underparts are a paler brown and not speckled. The chin and corners of the mouth are white, and there are whitish spots on each cheek and above the eyes. The head has a large snout, with an expanded upperlip; the facial vibrissae are very long and numerous. The rhinarium is deeply grooved on its anterior surface, with the nostrils opening upwards on top of the muzzle. The ears are small and round; both the ears and nostrils can be closed when the head is submerged. There are two pairs of teats. The feet have five digits and are webbed; they have small metapodial pads and the area surrounding these pads is naked. The perineal gland is simple, consisting of an area of naked skin and openings (a pair of small depressions in the female and a series of median pores in the male). The skull is long and low, with only a slight sagittal crest and a flat zygomatic arch; there is a very slight post-orbital process and a low ascending ramus. Dental formula: 13/3, C1/1,P 4/4, M 2/2 = 40. The canines are only a little longer than the premolars. The premolars are set close together and are triangular in shape, with high, pointed crowns; the molars are broad with low cusps.
Habitat. Primary lowland dry forest, swamp forest, bamboo forest, and secondary forest. It has been recorded as high as 1200 m in Borneo, but most records are from lowland forest. The majority of field observations and camera-trap records are in the vicinity of water, near streams and swampy areas.
Food and Feeding. Thought to be semi-aquatic and is said to feed on aquatic prey (small vertebrates and invertebrates).
Activity patterns. May be nocturnal: several field observations were at dusk, at night, and in the early morning, and one camera-trap in Riau Province (Indonesia) recorded an Otter Civet at 03:20 h. However, camera-trapping in the Way Kambas National Park (Sumatra) recorded Otter Civets as active at all times of the day.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Terrestrial, but there is one camera-trap photograph showing an Otter Civet climbing a tree. Mainly solitary, but photographs of mothers with young have been recorded: of 59 camera-trap pictures in Sumatra, 53 were of single individuals, four were of two individuals, and two were of three individuals.
Breeding. Females with two and three embryos have been recorded, and camera-traps have photographed females with one and two young. In captivity, the litter size has been reported to range from two to three.
Status and Conservation. CITES Appendix II. Classified as Endangered on The [UCN Red List. Listed as Threatened in the 1989 IUCN Action Plan for the Conservation ofMustelids and Viverrids. Most museum specimens are from 1826 to 1940. There is a scarcity of recent records, especially from Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand, and little is known about current populations. As it is found primarily in lowland forest, particularly near streams and wetland areas, the loss of lowland forest within its range has probably reduced populations of this species and threatens its persistence. Riverine habitats are increasingly being polluted and disturbed. Selective logging may also be responsible for its apparent rarity: in northern Borneo, the abundance of civets was significantly lower in logged forest than in primary forest, with the most specialized civets (such as the Otter Civet), being less tolerant of logged forests than generalist civet species. Conversion of peat swamp forests to oil palm plantations is an additional threat. Field surveys and ecological studies are needed to ascertain its current distribution, to monitor populations, and to determineits tolerance to habitat disturbance.
Bibliography. Chen (1988), Corbet & Hill (1992), Davies & Payne (1982), Goldman (1982), Harrison (1974), Heydon & Bulloh (1996), Heydon & Ghaffar (1997), Lekagul & McNeely (1991), Payne et al. (1985), Pocock (1915g, 1933c), Schreiber et al. (1989), Sebastian (2005), Veron (1999), Veron et al. (2006), Wozencraft (1984, 2005), Yasuma (1994).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2009, Viverridae, pp. 174-232 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 1 Carnivores, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on pages 197-198, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5714564