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Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Winter food habits of the Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Mammalia: Carnivora: Viverridae) in Patna Bird Sanctuary, India Khursid Alam Khan, Jamal Ahmad Khan, Khursheed Ahmad & Narendra Mohan 26 September 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 12 | Pages: 14490–14495 DOI: 10.11609/jot.4165.11.12.14490-14495 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. 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Partner Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2019 | 11(12): 14490–14495 Winter food habits of the Common Palm Civet Communication Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Mammalia: Carnivora: ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) Viverridae) in Patna Bird Sanctuary, India ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Khursid Alam Khan 1 , Jamal Ahmad Khan 2 , Khursheed Ahmad 3 & Narendra Mohan 4 PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS 1,2 Department of Wildlife Sciences, Near Sir Syed House, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Utar Pradesh 202002, India. 3 Division of Wildlife Science, Faculty of Forestry, Benihama, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology, Benihama , Ganderbal, Jammu & Kashmir 191201, India. 1,4 Wildlife Insttute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, Utarakhand 248001, India. 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected], 4 [email protected] Abstract: Food habits of the Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus were investgated using scat analysis method, a technique widely used to study small and medium sized mammals. We analyzed 112 scats of Common Palm Civet between November 2012 and March 2013 from the Patna Bird Sanctuary and found a total of nine food items. Out of 112 scats, 32.09% scats contained three food items, 29.62% scats had two items, 24.69% scats contained four prey items, and 3.7% scats had seven prey items. The results show that the Common Palm Civet is more frugivorous (ca. 39.28%) than insectvores (ca. 29.46%). Percent frequency of occurrence showed that insects contributed maximum in the diet of Civet (29.46±2.29) followed by fruits of Ficus religiosa (19.64±1.13), Prosopis julifora (11.60±0.18), and Date Palm (Phoenix sylvestrix) (8.03±0.23), while birds contributed 9.82±0.02 and rodents 6.25±0.44. Rufous-tailed Hare (Lepus nigricollis rufcaudatus) (1.78±0.96) contributed the minimum in the Common Palm Civet diet. PBS is an Important Bird Area site and it harbours thousands of migratory birds during winter. But the results show that birds are a less preferred diet item of the Common Palm Civet. Keywords: Civet, diet, food preference, frugivorous, insectvores, scat analysis, Utar Pradesh. DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4165.11.12.14490-14495 Editor: Mewa Singh, University of Mysore, Mysuru, India. Date of publicaton: 26 September 2019 (online & print) Manuscript details: #4165 | Received 29 March 2018 | Final received 31 August 2019 | Finally accepted 07 September 2019 Citaton: Khan, K.A., J.A. Khan, K. Ahmad & N. Mohan (2019). Winter food habits of the Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Mammalia: Carnivora: Viverridae) in Patna Bird Sanctuary, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(12): 14490–14495. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4165.11.12.14490-14495 Copyright: © Khan et al. 2019. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: None. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Author details: Mr. Khursid Alam Khan is a PhD scholar in Department of Wildlife Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, and currently working as a Project Associate in Wildlife Insttute of India Dehradun. He has completed his masters and MPhil degree in Wildlife sciences Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Dr. Jamal A. Khan is a Chairman and Professor in Department of Wildlife Science, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Dr. Khursheed Ahmad is a Head of Division in Division of Wildlife Science, Benihama, Ganderbal, SKUAST-K, Jammu & Kashmir, India. Mr. Narendra Mohan is feld biologist in Wildlife Insttute of India Dehradun. Author contributon: The data was collected by KAK and NM, while the analysis and paper writng is done by KAK under the supervision of JAK and KA. Acknowledgements: We are thankful to the Department of Wildlife Science Aligarh Muslim University for logistcs support. KAK is thankful to professor Wazahat Hussain, professor H.S.A. Yahya, for identfcaton of the seeds and feathers and Dr. Satsh Kumar, Mr Rohit Chaudhary and Mr Asim Rizvi for their valuable comments and suggeston. KAK is also thankful to the forest staf of PBS. 14490 Winter food habits of Common Palm Civet Khan et al. INTRODUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS There are eight species of civets found in India Study Area (Prater 1971; Menon 2014). Among them, the Common PBS is situated in Jalesar Tehsil of the Etah District Palm Civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus (Viverridae) of Utar Pradesh. The bird sanctuary is situated at is a small size carnivore with widespread distributon 27.5260N–78.3200E. The PBS has 109ha area which in central, southern and southeastern Asian countries contains a small jheel along with a track of date palm including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, trees (Phoenix sylvestrix). Patna Jheel is a typical rain- Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao People’s fed wetland. The wetland can be categorised as natural Democratc Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, fresh water, shallow wetland or jheel (Rahmani & Daniel Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam 1997). The eastern part of the sanctuary is covered with (Pocock 1933; Duckworth et al. 2016). In India, the dense Date Palm trees (Fig. 1) while the boundary of the Common Palm Civet is distributed throughout except in sanctuary and trails are covered with Prosopis julifora. the desert zone and Punjab and lives in tropical forests, More than 180 species of birds were reported from plantatons, fruit orchards and human-setlements, PBS (Ahmad & Javed 2000), and thousands of migratory ofen residing in eaves of houses or outbuildings (Prater birds visit every winter in this IBA site. The Golden 1971; Menon 2014). Although widely distributed in Jackal Canis aureus, Jungle Cat Felis chaus, Fishing Cat Asia, the Common Palm Civet is a less studied animal in Prionailurus vivverinus, Indian Fox Vulpes bengalensis, comparison to other carnivores (Joshi et al. 1995) and and Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus hermaphrodites very litle is known about its current status and ecology are common meso-predators of the area. PBS has ample (Krishnakumar & Balakrishanan 2003). The Common prey species like Indian Bush Rat Golunda elliot, Rufous- Palm Civet is listed in Appendix III in the Conventon on tailed Hare Lepus nigricollis rufcaudata, and avian Internatonal Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), and fauna. There is a variety of tree species found in the as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List, and Schedule II in sanctuary including Phoenix sylvestris, Prosopis julifora, Wildlife (Protecton) Act 1972 of India. Ficus religiosa, Ficus recemosa, Acacia spp., Ziziphus The Common Palm Civet is an omnivorous and spp., Pithecelobium dulce, Morus alba, Dalbergia sissoo, opportunistc forager. Its diet varies according to habitat Azadiracta indica. Beside these woody plant species, and season (Jothish 2011). It is a nocturnal species and the sanctuary contains aquatc vegetaton that consists feeds on a variety of foods including fruits and fesh of Hydrilla vertcillata, Salvinia, Azolla, Ceratophyllum (Joshi et al. 1995; Grassman 1998; Krishnakumar & demersum, Vallisneria spiralis, Potamogeton crispus, Balakrishanan 2003). In forested areas, it is primarily and Eichhornia crassipes. On the outer reaches of the frugivorous, feeding on berries and pulpy fruits including wetlands, Ipomea carnea and I. aquatca grow in excess those of fgs and palms and is an efectve seed disperser (Ahmad & Javed 2000). (Rabinowitz 1991; Corlet 1998; Nakashima et al. 2010). It is ofen considered a pest because of its raiding of cofee plantatons, other fruit crops, and poultry (Prater METHODS 1971). Direct observatons of