Malabar Civet
- Scientific Name: Viverra civettina
- Status: Listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List (based on external info)
- Legal Protection:
- Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I, Part I
- CITES: Appendix III (India)
- Endemic Region: Believed to be endemic to the Western Ghats of southern India
- Distribution (Suspected): Lowland forests from Kanyakumari to Wayanad, Coorg, and Honnavar in Karnataka.
- Rare, unverified sightings also reported from Kudremukh and High Wavy Mountains
- Recent Sightings: Skins of freshly killed civets reported in the 1980s from Elayur and Nilambur, Kerala. However, no recent verifiable evidence exists.
- Habitat: Historically assumed to inhabit lowland tropical forests; no presence recorded in any protected area.
Conservation Challenges:
- No precise locality data for any recorded specimen
- Thought to be possibly extinct
- No known population in captivity or in the wild
Recommended Conservation Measures:
- Field surveys to confirm presence in possible habitats
- Ecological studies to identify threats
- Use of molecular genetic techniques to confirm the taxonomic validity of specimens
- Captive breeding not viable at present due to lack of live specimens
