Civet
The civet (from the Arabic zabad = foam) is a strong and in its natural state extremely unpleasant, foul-smelling, oily, viscous secretion from the walnut-sized, paired glandular sacs , perianal glands below the anus of various civet cats .
In the male animals, they lie between the testicles and the penis. The female animals also have such a gland, but here it is constantly emptied, thinned by the urination, so females are less suitable for obtaining the civet. The civet is used by the nocturnal crawling cats to mark their territory. The males produce much more civets and one of better quality, and their death rate in captivity is lower. The captive animals, which are often kept in cruel cages, are obtained by curettage (scraping out with a special wooden spoon) of the glandular sacs and sometimes subsequent filling of the emptied glands with rancid butter with a little civet. In the past, the animals often did not survive the first removal or died quickly. The darkened enclosures are heated to around 45 ° C to increase the yield. Nowadays there are also more modern farms that are better equipped and work a little more animal-friendly.
About 8-10 grams or more per animal can be obtained in about ten days. Civet is a honey-like, foamy-soft, yellowish and ointment-like mass that then darkens. It can also be obtained by collecting it from the trees where the animals deposit it. Commercially, civet is mainly obtained in Ethiopia , from the African civet . However, it is also obtained in small quantities from Asiatic civets . The civet is then stored in cans or, in Africa, in ox or buffalo horns. The civet is traded in three different qualities.
However, when diluted appropriately, the stinking civet develops a pleasantly musky , leathery, fragrant scent that is very popular for making perfumes . It really comes into its own in combination with musk, beaver geil and amber , and particularly influences heavy oriental fragrances . The civet is also a very good fixative in perfumery.
Today almost only artificially produced substitute fragrances are used to extract this raw material. The natural civet consists of more than half of fat and contains, among other things, civetone (3–5%), indole in traces, skatole (0.1%), dimethylindole and butyric acid .
The import into the USA is strictly regulated because civet can contain the SARS virus. However, the US allows civet to be imported once it has been treated to ensure it is not infectious.
Civet can also be used for various medicinal uses.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Mücke, Christa Lemmen: Scent and smell: Effects and health significance of odorous substances . Hüthig Jehle Rehm, 2010, ISBN 3-609-16436-0 , p. 68 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Civet farming (PDF; 3.9 MB), at Apothecary's Garden, accessed on June 6, 2018.
- ↑ Harald H. Roth: Wildlife Resources. Springer, 1997, ISBN 3-540-61357-9 , p. 383.
- ^ Jürgen Falbe, Manfred Regitz: RÖMPP Lexikon Chemie. Volume 6: T-Z. 10th edition. Thieme, 1999, ISBN 3-13-735110-3 , p. 5059.