Confirmed by corresponding experts to be an African Palm Civet (Nandinia binotata arborea, a.k.a. the two-spotted civet). Captured along the banks of the Ruaka River (S -1.236249°, E 36.839071°), the civet is at the extreme eastern edge of its range in Africa. Compare the size to a Large Spotted Genet regularly seen at the same location.
That's a Two-spotted Pal Civet (= African Palm Civet)Nandinia binotata. Nice record of this species near the eastern extreme of its range. I recently saw another record for Ruiru.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this Tom. Can it be considered rare at this longitude then?
ReplyDeleteI would says that Two-spotted Palm Civet is 'uncommon' to 'rare' in central south Kenya and north central Tanzania. About 2 years ago I also obtained a record from a friend at Usa River near Arusha. Not only is this a new species of mammal for the Karura list, it is a new Family (Nandiniidae) and a new genus (Nandinia) for that list.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tom, on the management side it helps greatly to be able to say we have a rarish and new species.
ReplyDeleteTom, how incredibly exciting! Many thanks for the ID. I feel that, at the risk of adding to hype, we can safely say from some 200,000 camera trap images since 2013, having captured a new mammal species/genus/family is a positive signal of a recovering ecosystem. 'Course we also have an increasing rainfall signal in Karura. But whatever the driver(s), super news. (PS: where in the world in Riuru was the other record?)
ReplyDeleteTom, obviously want to add the Nandinia to our mammal list. Should we use Kingdon's subspecific tag 'arborea' that he assigns to East African isolates?
ReplyDelete