A Close Encounter with Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus)

Many a times most people would prefer to watch wild animals in their natural surroundings. Some may even pay big bucks for it. Human-animal conflicts are inevitable in any urbanisation efforts. When we take away their habitat they have no other places to go but to find refuge or source for food in our world. Fortunately there are small pockets of forest reserve just outside the city to provide some shelter for these animals when a conflict happened.

A juvenile Asian Palm Civet had literally came 'knocking' at my balcony door at 5.00 am on August 12. Initially thought as a mischievous cat trying to impose some spooky scratching sound but when i saw a long black tail, i knew i was seeing a different animal. I quickly went down to take my fishing net and waited awhile for some sunlight. At about 6.30am, i slowly open the balcony door and there it was, cuddling quietly at one corner. As i slowly place the net over it, suddenly it jumped up and tried to scale the balcony. There were moments of a "Tom & Jerry" chase before it finally entered the net. Once it has calmed down i moved it slowly into its temporary cage and went back to sleep.

Here is the juvenile Asian Palm Civet which i have named "Musky". For starters, i gave Musky a slice of papaya, a banana and an apple. She ate the entire banana and half of the papaya but she did not touch the apple at all. It certainly live up to its Asian namesake for liking only local fruits. Perhaps i should have tried to give Musky some nasi lemak or roti canai to eat ! 

Then i raided the fridge and found some cooked chicken and decided to give it a try.

You can see Musky gladly took the piece of chicken from my hand. Although it may looked tame here but it was still a wild animal. It would puff loudly like the sound of a cobra when i tried to touch it. Her eyes remind me of some fruit bats i have seen before. I believe they would use three important senses in the wild i.e eyesight, smell and hearing. All three senses are equally important for their survival.

Yummy chicken which Musky gladly ate. In intervals i fed it with more banana and papaya for moisture. 

To cool it, i sprayed some water over Musky but i think she doesn't really like it. Through out the day this celebrity mammal was seen cleaning her self while being surrounded with flashlights. On the following day (i.e August 13, Sunday), it was time for Musky to go 'home'. Drove about 25 km and found a secluded trail and placed Musky down in an open space inside the jungle. The smell of the jungle had certainly got Musky excited as she had bolted out as soon as i opened the cage door. 

The first thing Musky did was to rub her scent on a dead tree stump as can be seen in this photo. 

After awhile of rubbing and a few leaps Musky was already on her way exploring the natural world. Although there were no farewell ceremony or kenduri held, i believe Musky was very happy to be back to her real home. There are certainly more fruits to eat in the jungle than just papaya or rambutans.

There was a saying that "sometimes goods things come in pairs".  Not long after Musky left, another Civet came to my balcony on 16 August (Wednesday) at 2.15 am. This time it was "Sniffy" whom i believe was Musky's sibling. Since Sniffy arrived on a weekday, i have more time to study his behavior and took more decent photos.

Here is Sniffy having a bite at his favourite fruit. 

Sniffy is much smaller as compared to Musky but he was not as 'friendly' as Musky. Sniffy looks more like a racoon here.

Wish Sniffy could bark instead of bite. 

He too enjoyed a piece of the home cooked chicken.

Now Sniffy looks more like a fox from this angle !

Finally it was Sniffy's turn to go home. On August 19th (Saturday), i went about 20 km further than Musky so as to prevent any 'inbreeding'. Literature says that this animal are usually solidarity so i guess they should be fine 'alone'.

Here is Sniffy having one last look at me before departing. Not sure what was in his mind though!

Unlike Musky, Sniffy took his sweet time and headed to the nearest available tree.

He kept sniffing at the tree trunk as he made his way up.

A vertical climb without any harness ! 

There are certainly bigger trees to climb here than just telephone poles. 

On my way out from the jungle trail, i saw a familiar bunch of leaves and twigs hanging down from some branches. 

As i approached the nest, a bird quickly flew out. Ah ! it must be an active nest. I waited for awhile and it came back. It was a Black-and-Red Broadbill (Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos). 

Here you can see it poking its head into the nest feeding another bird inside.

After just a few photos i quickly left the area so as not to disturb their nesting activities.

What a memorable occasion !

The End