Many genera are agile and extremely graceful in their movements. Sight, hearing, and smell are acute. Viverrids may fight when cornered. They seek their prey in trees and on the ground, either by stalking it or by pouncing upon it from a hiding place. They eat small vertebrates and various invertebrates and occasionally consume vegetable matter, such as fruit, bulbs, and nuts.
Carrion is taken by some species.
Viverrids are solitary or live in pairs or groups. Several genera, including Cynictis and Suricata, live in colonies in ground burrows. Some genera of mongooses associate in bands and take refuge as a group in any convenient shelter. Breeding may occur seasonally or throughout the year. A number of genera have two litters annually.