Intake of an ethnomedical shrub by Yellow-bellied Weasel Mustela kathiah
Jay P. H. WAN
Abstract
Mallotus peltatus by Yellow-bellied Weasel Mustela kathiah was camera-trapped in Yinggeling Nature Reserve, Hainan, China. This behaviour lasted about one minute and Aninvolved episode the of weasel’s consumption climbing of the into bark, the crown, stem and/or so seemed fluid toof bethe intentional. ethnomedical More plant behavioural and dietary studies would inform understanding of ethnomedical plant usage by carnivores.
Keywords: camera-trapping, China, diet, Hainan, Mallotus peltatus, medical treatment, plant consumption
黄腹鼬 Mustela kathiah 咬食民间药用植物一例
摘要 于中国海南省鹦哥岭自然保护区进行红外线自动相机兽类监测期间，意外拍摄到一只黄腹鼬 Mustela kathiah 正在咬食一种民间药用植物，山苦茶 Mallotus peltatus 的树皮和茎，或是想取食其汁 液。由于这棵山苦茶位处陡坡，黄腹鼬仍然爬到树的冠部，并持续咬食一分钟，因此被认为是一 种有意识的行为。关于食肉动物利用民间药用植物所知甚少，亟待更多行为学和食性相关的研究。
Yellow-bellied Weasel Mustela kathiah is a small carnivore Guinea and the Philippines (eFloras 2014). Mallotus has long distributed from South and East China, west to the Himala- been used as ethnomedicine, not only by the Li minority of yan region and south to West Thailand and southern Vietnam Hainan, China but also by indigenous people in Vietnam and (Corbet & Hill 1992, Abramov et al. 2013, Chutipong et al. 2014, India, to treat stomach-ache, enteritis and atherosclerosis Phan et al. 2014). It is not considered threatened in South Chi- (Chakraborty & Rao 1988, Dagar & Dagar 1991, Liu et al. 2008, na, although its ecology is still poorly known (Lau et al. 2010). Arunachalam et al. 2009, Nguyen Hoai et al. 2009). Leaf and Camera-trapping was conducted as part of training in wildlife monitoring at Yinggeling Nature Reserve (18°49′–19°06′N, neuropharmacological functions for skin infections, vulnerary, 109°11–34′E), Hainan province of China in 2009–2010. One cholereticstem-bark andextracts trematodic have antimicrobial, problems (Ambasta anti-inflammatory 1992, Hua et and al. of the seven infrared auto-triggered cameras-traps (Wildlife 1992, Chattopadhyay et al. 2002, 2003). II, Shenzhen Changxin Electronics Technology Co. Ltd, China) This Yellow-bellied Weasel might have been feeding on M. was set 1.5 m above ground, facing an animal trail on a rocky peltatus steep slope 15 m from the nearest water source, at 400 m asl preferred plant species in the exudativorous diet of Bengal Ficus virens. No lure or Slow Loris because Nycticebus of these bengalensis medicinal have properties. high medicinal The five valuemost bait was used. and are used traditionally by people (Das et al. 2014). Great in a scrubA series valley of photographsdominated by taken fig trees at 06h55–06h56 on 8 May apes are known to ingest plants rich in non-nutritional second- 2009 showed a Yellow-bellied Weasel biting a branch of the ary compounds that may help reducing parasites (Huffman shrub Mallotus peltatus (Fig 1). The action lasted about one 2003). Evidence suggestive of self-medication in animals, in- minute despite the presumed disturbance from the camera- cluding carnivores, was summarised by Huffman (2003), who documented the use of bark, root and fruit. Bengal Slow Loris’s The camera-trap was in position for three weeks from 1 May, consumption of plants also used medicinally by local people buttrap’s the flash. Yellow-bellied It therefore Weasel seems wasto have photographed been intentional only once, feeding. on might be why the local people use the lorises themselves as the eighth day, so presumably did not return in the subsequent medicine (Nekaris et al. 2010, Das et al. 2014). Although being hunted for pelts, weasels are not valued in China medicinally or as food compared with other small carnivores like Masked beetlefortnight. (Coleoptera) A careful check larvae, of whichthe plant live in in the decaying field showed wood, no were bee Palm Civet Paguma larvata, Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus unlikelyhive or antto have nest been (Hymenoptera) present in this on thefresh branch. branch. Xylophagous The weasel hermaphroditus, Small Indian Civet Viverricula indica and seems, therefore to have been feeding on the plant directly. Eurasian Otter Lutra lutra (Wu 1993), but there is one record Mallotus peltatus (Euphorbiaceae) is a shade-tolerant of Stripe-backed Weasel M. strigidorsa in trade in adjacent plant common in secondary forests at altitudes of 200–1000 Lao PDR, for medicinal use (Hansel & Tizard 2006). m. It occurs in Guangdong and Hainan provinces of China, Vi- Alternatively, this episode might have been purely di- etnam, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, New etary, with no medicinal basis. Consumption of plant parts,
Small Carnivore Conservation, Vol. 51: 34–37, December 2014 34 Yellow-bellied Weasel eating ethnomedical shrub
Fig. 1. A series of camera-trap photographs of a Yellow-bellied Weasel Mustela kathiah biting on a branch of the ethnomedical plant Mallotus peltatus, Yinggeling Nature Reserve, Hainan, China, 8 May 2009. in particular fruit, is widespread among members of the Car- its medicinal properties (Gompper & Hoylman 1993). Yellow- nivora: in addition to the extensively frugivorous palm civets bellied Weasel diet seems not to have been studied. As well as (Paradoxurinae), this includes in tropical Asia species such as an expected diet of rodents, other small mammals and birds, it Yellow-throated Marten Martes flavigula, Small-toothed Ferret reportedly eats fruit (Larivière & Jennings 2009). Wu (1993) Badger Melogale moschata and Small Indian Civet (e.g. Rabi- noted that some local people in Guangxi province of China nowitz & Walker 1991, Corlett 1996, 1998, Zhou et al. 2008a, described Yellow-bellied Weasel as fond of feeding on mush- 2008b, 2008c). Nectarivory has been documented in palm rooms; they thus call it ‘mushroom weasel’. Although weasels civets and Yellow-throated Marten (Joshi et al. 1995, Nandini are generally considered highly carnivorous, at least one spe- & Karthik 2007, Lau 2012, Moore & Wihermanto 2014). Al- cies, Siberian Weasel M. sibirica, consistently eats fruit, at least though M. peltatus in some of its range (Tatara & Doi 1994). The camera-trapped Yellow-bellied Weasel was chewing (hence nectar) nor fruit flowers is visible and fruits in the in photographs February–June nor was and on the stem with its molars. It was clearly not merely licking notedJune–November at time of camera respectively setting. (eFloras Grass is 2014),consumed neither as an flower intes- the food. Such biting suggests that it was either consuming tinal scourer or a digestion aid by Sulawesi Civet Macrogalidia the bark itself or was trying to damage the stem so it could musschenbroekii and Viverra civets in northern and central consume an exudate. A weasel consuming exudate would be Sulawesi (Wemmer & Watling 1986). It is unlikely that this startling: exudativory is a rare dietary niche known mainly camera-trapped Yellow-bellied Weasel fed on the Mallotus in primates, with only seven genera known so far to gouge plant, which grew on a steep slope so was perhaps more dif- for exudate (Nash 1986, Nash & Burrows 2010, Smith 2010, - Starr & Nekaris 2013). Evidence of carnivores incorporating testinal scourer, although Yellow-bellied Weasel is apparently plant solids or exudates in their diet could perhaps be pro- atficult least to areach fair climber than were (Supparatvikorn many other plants et al. 2012).nearby, as an in vided by comparative studies of dental morphology from skull collections; dental signals of such diet are evident in galagos fruiting parts of any ethnomedical plant by any small carni- (Galagidae) (Burrows & Nash 2010). Further studies on diet, vore Thisin Southeast seems to Asia be the or firstChina, description perhaps over of the a widerintake area. of non- In including close examination of camera-trap images, would al- Latin America, coatis Nasua have been documented grooming low a better understanding of ethnomedical plant usage by with resin of the plant genus Trattinnickia, perhaps because of carnivores.
35 Small Carnivore Conservation, Vol. 51, December 2014 Wan
Acknowledgements Huffman, M. A. 2003. Animal self-medication and ethno-medicine: ex- We would like to thank Yinggeling Nature Reserve for the collabora- ploration and exploitation of the medicinal properties of plants. tion of this project and the survey team for setting the camera-traps. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society This project was supported by Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden. Sin- - cere thanks go to K. Anne-Isola Nekaris and an anonymous reviewer tribution and predation pressure on 62: spacing 371−381. behavior in palm Joshi,civets. A. R., JournalSmith, J. of L. Mammalogy D. & Cuthbert, 76: F. 1205–1212. J. 1995. Influence of food dis Larivière, S. & Jennings, A. P. 2009. Family Mustelidae (weasels and Referencesfor their high efficiency and extremely helpful comments. relatives). Pp. 564–656 in Wilson, D. E. & Mittermeier, R. A. (eds) Abramov, A. V., Meschersky, I. G., Aniskin, V. M. & Rozhnov, V. V. 2013. Handbook of the mammals of the world, 1. Carnivores. 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