Civet cats
| Civet cats | ||||||||||||
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Head of an African civet |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Viverrinae | ||||||||||||
| Gray , 1821 |
The civet cats (Viverrinae) are in the broader sense a subfamily of the crawling cats . They are ground-dwelling, quite large crawling cats, which usually have a stripe or speckled pattern on their gray or yellow fur.
Civets are common in large parts of Africa (excluding Madagascar ) and South and Southeast Asia; one species, the Kleinfleck genet , also lives in southern Europe.
The following genera belong to the civet cats:
- Asiatic civets ( Viverra )
- African civet cat ( Civettictis civetta )
- Small Indian Civet Cat ( Viverricula indica )
The genet cats ( Genetta ) and Pojanas ( Poiana ), which used to belong to the civet cats, now belong to the subfamily Genettinae .
All civets produce a musky secretion ( civet ) in their perianal glands , which was previously used in the perfume industry .
Errors
It has repeatedly been heard that the SARS virus may have been transmitted to humans by civets. This is a translation error that has been picked up by almost all German media; the animal referred to here is correctly called larvae roller .
See also
Although the digested coffee beans civet have similar characteristics are for the Kopi Luwak- no civets responsible -Kaffee but the Civet .
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 (English).
- Wilson, DE and DM Reeder: Mammal Species of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4
supporting documents
- ^ A b Andrew P. Jennings and Geraldine Veron: Family Viverridae (Civets, genets and oyans). in Don E. Wilson , Russell A. Mittermeier : Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 1 Carnivores. Lynx Editions, 2009, ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1 , p. 175.
