<i>Two rare civets land in Rangamati 'zoo'</i>
This rare species masked palm civet, caught at a nearby forest a few days ago, is kept in the 'mini zoo' run by Rangamati Hill District Council. Photo: STAR
Two rare species civets, caught by an indigenous man a few days ago, are now kept in the 'mini zoo' maintained by Rangamati Hill District Council. Officials of Rangamati Forest Department identified the two animals, one male and another female, as masked palm civets. Locally known as chholok, it is called gondha gokul in Bangla. The scientific name of the species is Lavarta Paguma. The two civets have been added to six animals including a bear, a deer, a python, a porcupine, a monkey, a civet and a bird that are already in the mini zoo, said Ananda Chakma, who looks after the zoo. An indigenous hunter at Suvalong under Barkal upazila caught the civets, from deep forest and later on Sunday last handed them over to Nikhil Kumar Chakma, chairman of Rangamati Hill District Council, to keep those in the mini zoo. "There are four species of civets -- Indian large civet, common palm civet, masked palm civet and small palm civet. Masked palm civet is now rarely seen in the CHT forests," said Md Sanaullah Patoary, divisional forest officer of Unclassified Forest Division. An adult masked palm civet is 60 cm long from head to the end of spine and it usually has a tail with same length. It weighs 3 to 4.5 kg. Its body is dark brown or blackish with buff underparts. It has black chin, throat and tail. The animal is quite in nature and basically nocturnal. Usually arboreal, it also comes to the ground in search of food. It lives on insects, fruits and small vertebrate. A female civet gives birth three to four progeny at a time and a baby civet gains reproductive power around one year after birth. In the past, oil from civet was used as an aphrodisiac, especially by kings and aristocrats.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments