Banded Palm Civet

The banded palm civet (Hemigalus derbyanus) is a civet found in the tall forests of Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Though it lives in the forests, it spends much of its time on the ground. The banded palm civet has a long pointed face, reminiscent of insectivorous mammals. It has a long body set on short legs, and five toes on each foot with retractable claws. It looks very similar to Owston's palm civet (Chrotogale owstoni), except that it lacks spots on its body, and the hair on its neck points upwards instead of down along the neck. It is also similar to the rare Hose's Civet (Diplogale hosei), an endemic of northern Borneo - they only differ in shape of muzzle and teeth and Hose's Civet does not have the banded pelage of the Banded Civet. Banded Civet has short, dense fur that is generally a dark cream/buff color with four to five dark bands on its back. Its tail has two dark bands and the latter half of the tail is dark brown to black. There is a dark brown stripe that extends down the length of the top of the muzzle, and two stripes that extend from the top middle of the eye to the inside corner of the ears. There are two areas of white above and below each eye, and the muzzle is darker than the rest of the face.