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Small-spotted Genet

Genetta genetta

Description:

This amazing animal was climbing around in a tree above us as we were having a late dinner outside our hotel. It was very calm and as gracile as a cat, but the Genetta is more akin to the Moongoose than the cat! He stayed around for about ten minutes, and did not seem to be disturbed about the attention he got from us. A fantastic climber, mastereing the mango tree on the picture as well as a coconut palm right next to it. The picture was taken by a friend and I was holding a torch (yep, someone has to do the hard work ;) )

Habitat:

Urban environment close to the beach of Indian Ocean. I have not found any recordings on previous spottings in Mozambique, and this makes the spotting even more spectacular!

Notes:

It can be hard at first sight to separate the Large-Spotted Genet from the Small-Spotted Genet. But one way is to look at the tip of the tail. On the Small-Spotted Genet the tail is white tipped, and on the Large-Spotted Genet it is black tipped. The Small-Spotted Genet has a diet which consists mainly of small mammals and insects. Bats, birds, reptiles, amphibians, millipedes, centipedes and scorpions. Genets kill with a bite to the neck, like cats. But according to Wikipedia: Genets are feliforms, and are related to cats, but more closely related to mongooses. The family viverrids (whom the Genetta belongs to) are commonly regarded as the closest living mammals to the extinct common ancestor of the carnivores. Although the genets are very catlike, they also display some primitive features of this ancestor, making them an interesting study for people interested in carnivore evolution. It is suggested that others interested in this topic also research the civets, palm civets and linsangs for more information on viverrids.

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12 Comments

Harsha Singh
Harsha Singh 10 years ago

Gorgeous mammal, Tiz!

Tiz
Tiz 10 years ago

Haha, well Yes! Luckily it is not mango season just yet :D
And yes, I will keep my eyes open for your pets ;)

AfriBats
AfriBats 10 years ago

If fruit bats were attracted to the mangos, so probably was the genet to the bats.... You know what I mean, Tiz, right? Great pictures!

Tiz
Tiz 10 years ago

Thank you Glen :)

Glen Marks
Glen Marks 10 years ago

Nice spotting!

Tiz
Tiz 10 years ago

Thank you for your comment Alice :)

alicelongmartin
alicelongmartin 10 years ago

Cool picture!

Tiz
Tiz 10 years ago

Thank you for the comment Reza. I hope one day that I will make that animal justice in a photo as well! It was a beautiful moment!

Reza Hashemizadeh
Reza Hashemizadeh 10 years ago

Wonderful spot !

Tiz
Tiz 10 years ago

Thank you very much Mona and Faredin :)

FaredinAliyevski
FaredinAliyevski 10 years ago

Nice photo Tina, cats are amazing!

Mona Pirih
Mona Pirih 10 years ago

Gorgeous..

Tiz
Spotted by
Tiz

Mozambique

Spotted on Jun 7, 2013
Submitted on Jun 8, 2013

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