About Malabar Civet:

• The Malabar large spotted civet is one of the world’s rarest mammals.
• According to IUCN red list it is critically endangered animal.
• The Malabar large spotted civet’s original habitat was found in the evergreen rain forest belt in the Western Ghats of southwest India, where it lived in wooded plains and adjoining hill slopes.
• Natural forests have almost completely disappeared in the entire stretch of the coastal Western Ghats due to human activities.
• The present vegetation consists mostly of plantations.
• The cashew plantations are the least disturbed.
• They are not weeded and have a dense understory of shrubs and grasses.
• For a terrestrial species such as the Malabar large spotted civet, these thickets can provide important cover.
• However, it is likely that the cashew plantations are a ‘refuge’ rather than a preferred habitat.
• Furthermore, most captures of this species in the last 30 years have been in valleys, around riparian areas.
• This suggests possible dependence on shallow waterways where the civet forages at night.

Source: The Hindu