Author Archives: weiting

Civet roadkill recovery – small actions can save the lives of wildlife

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Two days before Christmas 2014, I came into office expecting an uneventful day. Not long after I reached campus, I received a notification from Nurliyana Omar, an Otterman Holt graduate who previously conducted a research on the fishtail palm (Caryota mitis). Liyana reported a common palm civet roadkill carcass along Clementi Road, at the NUS Arts Faculty entrance on the first left lane.

This was the third civet roadkill reported to us in the month of December.

Once a roadkill is reported, it is always a race against time and traffic to recover an intact carcass. We could not retrieve the first civet roadkill at Goodwood Hill, reported to us by Dr Darren Yeo, as by the time Tze Kwan arrived at the scene, the civet had already been crushed by multiple vehicles. Instead, tissue and hair samples were collected and deposited in the cryo collection in the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.

Therefore when I received the notification from Liyana, I quickly gathered the necessary equipment for carcass recovery and headed over to the Arts Faculty via the ridge. Even before I had a visual of the body, I could smell a whiff of pandan-like musk at the traffic junction. I looked across and saw a long slender black tail at the edge of the road metal railing. My heart sank. It was a common palm civet.

The civet carcass was moved from the road to the side using wet tissues.

Someone moved the common palm civet carcass from the road to the side using wet tissues.

I took photos of the carcass and realized that the civet had sustained many injuries due to the impact from the vehicle. The body was distorted and there was blood on its face and hind leg. After taking the photos, I put on gloves and gingerly placed the civet into a bag to carry back to Science Faculty. As I carried it back to the ridge, I could not help but feel the weight of this usually elusive nocturnal animal. It was alive and well just a couple of hours ago.

Many times I would think of how we can help these last wild urban carnivores and many other wildlife that live in coexistence with human in Singapore’s urban landscape. It could be a small action such as driving a little slower, slowing down our pace of life to appreciate nature or even sharing these wonders with our friends and family. This can make all the difference between life and death for an animal. Every person can be the catalyst for change. As 2014 draws to a close, I hope that each of us can do our part and make a difference for wildlife in Singapore.

All about the common palm civet in art!

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We cannot wait to share with you this lovely hand drawn poster of a common palm civet by Maria Vladimirova! With an aim to raise awareness of various animal species among her Russian audience, she has been creating many other animal artworks which she shares on her website and Instagram.

Thanks to Instagram’s recommendations that we came across Maria’s fossa drawing. The fossa drawing was part of her efforts to draw one new animal per day in a #365challenge. We quickly took this opportunity to contact Maria and ask if it was possible to help draw a poster for the common palm civet. We were nervously waiting for her response and she quickly agreed. Within the span of two days, Maria completed the artwork!

Here are some of the interesting information snippets about the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). Civets have managed to survive urbanisation and with enough vegetation, they can also be found in urban areas.

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Do you know what the civets eat? Yes, the civet is an omnivorous animal and it feeds largely on fruits.

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Lastly, one of the several threats to the civets in Southeast Asia is the kopi luwak trade. In some farms, civets are caught from the wild, fed only coffee berries and battery farmed to produce the expensive civet coffee. You can read about more about the threat of kopi luwak to civets at the Project LUWAK Singapore.

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Stitching all these individual information together into a civet poster, here is the final product!

25 common palm civet

This poster can also be viewed on Maria’s Instagram (http://i.instagram.com/p/qFhZ6MKHu9/).

Thank you Maria and her partner for doing up this artwork in a short period of time! We really appreciate your effort to help raise awareness for the common palm civet.