Sulawesi civet captured in Lore Lindu park

Sulawesi civet captured in Lore Lindu park

By Richard Smithers

LORE LINDU, Central Sulawesi (JP): A rare Sulawesi civet cat,
one of the world's least-known carnivores, has been captured
alive in Lore Lindu National Park.

Although first described by scientists more than 100 years
ago, the civet has been sighted only a handful of times since,
despite extensive searches. The secretive creature is Sulawesi's
top predator after the python and an acrobatic climber renowned
for being able to descend trees headfirst.

The young male musang, as it is called locally, was caught
recently by villagers and has been released in the National Park
after being filmed for a New Zealand nature television
documentary. It weighed 9 kg and measured 130 cm from head to
tail. The civet was released in the park's mountain forest away
from human predators.

Ecologist Duncan Neville, manager of The Nature Conservancy's
Lore Lindu National Park project, said finding the civet was a
scientific landmark for the National Park.

"The Sulawesi civet is a magnificent, clever and athletic
creature," Neville said. "It is one of the most important mammal
species in Sulawesi."

Neville said that the civet was so rare that, prior to its
recent capture, the New Zealand television crew spent three
months unsuccessfully trying to film one in the National Park.
The crew flew back to Indonesia as soon as they were told that a
specimen had been successfully captured. Previously, the civet
had not been photographed since 1983, Neville said.

"This is an animal that we should know much more about in
Indonesia. Seeing the civet in the flesh made me realize again
why we need to work hard to preserve these forests so animals
like this can flourish," he said.

Despite being in a national park, the civet's forest habitat
is under constant pressure from illegal agricultural clearing,
hunting and rattan (cane) collection.

The civet was caught by villagers under the direction of
Yulisan Sango, a sub-section head of the Lore Lindu National Park
management organization (BTNLL). Yulisan, who originally worked
with the New Zealand documentary team, continued looking for the
civet a year after the television crew abandoned its search and
left Sulawesi.

Known scientifically as Macrogalidia muschenbrooki, the civet
eats small birds, mammals, palm fruit and eggs.