|Scientific Name:||Macrogalidia musschenbroekii|
|Species Authority:||(Schlegel, 1877)|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Vulnerable A2c ver 3.1|
|Assessor(s):||Meijaard, E., MacKinnon, J., Jennings, A.P. & Veron, G.|
|Reviewer(s):||Duckworth, J.W. (Small Carnivore Red List Authority) & Schipper, J. (Global Mammal Assessment Team)|
This species is listed as Vulnerable due to population decline estimated to be more than 30% over the last three generations (suspected to be 15 years) inferred from habitat destruction and degradation. Very little is known about this species and although it has been found in some degraded areas it is plausible that these are marooned individuals in fragmented areas and/or dispersing from nearby areas of native forest habitat. It has been estimated that well over 50% of the island’s total forest has been lost in the past 15 years (World Bank 2001) - so it may be an optimistic inference that there has been only a 30% loss in population based on the possibility that it persist in some mosaic landscapes.
|Range Description:||The Sulawesi palm civet is endemic to Sulawesi (Wozencraft 2005), where it was previously thought to occur only in north and central parts of the island. It is now known to occur also in the southeast of Sulawesi, as individuals were recorded at Rawa Aopa National Park, Tanjung Peropa Wildlife Reserve and Mangolo Recreation Forest (Lee et al. 2003).|
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||The population status of the Sulawesi palm civet is unknown. Records of this species are scarce due to its solitary nature and nocturnal habits (Lee et al. 2003) compounded by a lack of spotlighting surveys, that would presumably find the species. It is known from 28 individuals, 14 of which were recorded in the 19th century, while the most recent records are from Mount Klabat in North Sulawesi and Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi (Wemmer et al. 1983; Wemmer and Watling 1986). It appears to be more common in forests than in agricultural areas (Lee et al. 2003).|
|Habitat and Ecology:||The ecology of the Sulawesi palm civet remains to be fully studied. It has been recorded in lowland forest, lower and upper montane forest, grasslands and near farms (Wemmer and Watling 1986; Whitten et al. 1987; Musser, 1987; Lee et al. 2003; Maneros pers. comm.). This species does not appear to be a habitat specialist as it is not restricted by elevation or disturbance regime, although all sites where it has been recorded in savanna, grassland, or agricultural areas surrounded by forest. It is, nevertheless more commonly found in forested as opposed to agricultural areas (Lee et al. 2003). This species feeds on small mammals, fruit, and occasionally takes birds and farm animals, as well as grass. It is also suggested that they have a home range of about 150 ha (Lee et al. 2003).|
|Major Threat(s):||Little is known of threats to the Sulawesi palm civet but it is suspected to be threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, as Sulawesi has one of the highest rates of forest loss in the world (Myers 1992). Between 1985 and 1997 the northern peninsula of Sulawesi experienced a forest loss of 58.5%, 72.3% for the central peninsula, and 67.3% for the southeastern peninsula (World Bank 2001). Although this species appears to be a generalist that can probably tolerate some degree of disturbed habitat, there is no good evidence that populations can survive independent of tall forest. The fragmentation of forested lands will likely limit movement (Lee et al. 2003) and could expose these animals to greater mortality through increased interaction with humans as road kill and conflicts over taking small livestock (Duckworth pers. comm.).|
|Conservation Actions:||The Sulawesi palm civet is known from several protected areas including Rawa Aopa National Park, Tanjung Peropa Wildlife Reserve, Mangolo Recreation Forest, and Lore Lindu National Park (Lee et al. 2003).|
Lee, R. J., Riley, J., Hunowu, I. and Maneasa, E. 2003. The Sulawesi palm civet: Expanded distribution of a little known endemic viverrid. Oryx 37: 378-381.
Schreiber, A., Wirth, R., Riffel, M. and Van Rompaey, H. 1989. Weasels, civets, mongooses, and their relatives. An Action Plan for the conservation of mustelids and viverrids. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
Wemmer, C. 1983. External characters of the Sulawesi palm civet. Journal of Mammalogy 64(1): 133-136.
Wemmer, C. and Watling, D. 1986. Ecology and status of the Sulawesi palm civet. Biological Conservation 35: 1-17.
Wozencraft, W.C. 2005. Order Carnivora. In: D.E. Wilson and D.M. Reeder (eds), Mammal Species of the World: A taxonomic and geographic reference. Third Edition, pp. 532-628. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, USA.
|Citation:||Meijaard, E., MacKinnon, J., Jennings, A.P. & Veron, G. 2008. Macrogalidia musschenbroekii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 06 March 2015.|
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