Musrnrro a VrvnnnroCoNsnnverroN The Newsletterol the IUCN/SSC Mustelid& ViverridSpecialist Group. Number1 August1989 Liberianmongoose flibeiictis kuhni).Fitslpholographtaken of a liveanimal. Photo by l\4. E. Taylor. Thisnurnber was producedwith lhe supponot lhe "RoyalZoological Society of Antwerp', Anlwerp,Belgium, and wilh the kindassistance of 0r. G. lel.Carpaneto, Dipartimento di Biologiaanimale e dell'uomo,Universita di Flona"La Sapienza". Roma, ltaly. Mustelid & Viverrid Conservation Group. TheNewslener of theIUCN/SSC Mustelid & Viverrid Specialist Editor-in-chief: HarryVan Rompaey' Edegem' Belgium Editors: MichaelRiffel, Karlsdorf,FRG Amd Schreiber,Heidelberg, FRG Roland Wirth, Miinchen, FRG do not The views expressedin this Newsletterare those of the authorsand & Viverrid il""rr*ify ."n"", tttoseof the IUCN, nor th€ IUCN/SSCMustelid SpecialistGrouP. a we ale patticularlygrateful to waller Rasmussenfor readinglhe manuscriPrs and improving the English style. a M&vsG' The dm of this Newsletteris to offer the membersof the IUCN/SSC paperc' and thosewho areconcemed with mustelidsor/and viverrids' bief newsitems, abstracts, and titles of recentliterature' All readersare invited to sendmaterial to: Mustelid & Viverrid Conservation c/o Dr. H. Van RomPaeY Jan Verbertlei' 15 2520Edegem Belgium EDITORIAL tfueatenedtaxa This is the first numtterof what we hope will be a ful6l its needto help coordinateaction for surfacingconserladon regularNewsletter series. That this Newsletterhas sufaced and allow quick resPonseto newly is mainly due !o the dedicationarld enthusiasmof Harry problems. vall Rornpaeywho hasoffered to takeover lhe major worl in putting the publication togetherand have it s€nt out at befor€, the Newsletterhas regular intewals. Whilc, as rnentioned beconrea reality thanksmainly to the eflons of Harry van Rompaey,it needsthe active cooperationof ALL MVSC of a rcquestto ask Theaim ofthis Newslett€r-like ofall SSCSp€cialist memb€rsand il shouldno! be too much a year from each of you' Croup Newslette$-is, of course,nol to publishjustatlother at least one communication memberof periodicalfor its own sake,but to intensify our efforls for Obviously anybodyelse who is not an official relatedto mustelid the conservationof the sPccieswe arc concemedwitb. As the Grctlp and who has!o say an,'thing aclivities of the Specialis! suchlhe Newslettelwants to rcachall who havesome son or viverrid conse ation or the ofinterestin thesurvival of theFes€nt diversify ofinultelids Group shouldalso write. andviverrids. With animalsscientiilcally so poorly known as many of the world's mustelidsand viverids we would Group will rcceive like to seeinteNifred effons to l@m morc abut the status' Eachmember of the Sp€cialist Newsletterissue, but othen ecology,reproduction, diseas€s, and captlvemadagemenl a complerne[tarycopy of each pay something.In fact' the needsofespecially those sPecies and subspecies listed as of inteEsredin rcceiving it should of the Newsletleradditional conservationconcem in therccendy published Cons€rvation problemof funding any issues unsolved.lt is your+he Aciion Planofthe ruCN/SSCMustelid & Viverrid Specialist io this presentone iS comPletely to obtain a tunding basis Croup. rader's-rcsponsibility in helPing for the Newsletter. Initially we plan to produce two Newslettersa year, but to makethe publicationrclatively to be sentfte€ As suchlhe Newslenerwants to bring all persons attractiveand to haveenough surplus copies govemmentofncials' logetherwho want to work towardsthese aims in oneway of chalge to researchers,students' would needa lrrinimumof or artother.we would apprcciateto hearfrom alybody who etc. in third world cormtrieswe anynon_memb€!of {,ould like to contactsomeMy to do coffiervation_rclated US$2.0OOayear.I would suggest thal would like to subscriberc the mustelid/viverridresearch o( whocan offer his servicesand the Sp€cislistGroup who of US$ 15 (largerdonaoons cxpcrience in starting one of the many priority actions Ne{slett€r paysatr adrual fee If each memb€rof &e idcorificd in the Actiol Pl6n.we would bemorc than haPPy *ould, of cours€,be welcome). intercstedin fiustelid to publGh suchrequcsts or offers in forthcomingissues of Specia.listCroup and any otherp€rson would find us foul or five tbe Newslctter. & viverrid conservation subcribers,the fulrrc ofthe Newslenerwouldt€financially ensurcd- A majorgoal oflhe Newslenerwill alsob€ lo give up dateson rccentconservation orrcsealch initiativesand b repon on new or so far udecogtdzed conservaliol RolandWirth ploblems. If -as we hope_wewill receive many short ChairmanruCN/SSC iommunicationsfor this section.the Newslener can quickly Musrelid& Vivenid SpecialistGrcup I Mustelidae and Viverridae from north-eastetfl Zi ethnozoological research and conservation' GuiseppeM. CARPANETOand FrancescoP GERMI The faunal richnessof norrh-€astemZaire is mainly Ituri Forest mammalsserve as food for the Mbuti dueto the greatvanety of its vegetationlypes: lowland- and All the larqer Fo,.tt. tn tirs areathe Alexander's mountainforcsts. arid and wet savannahs,marsh alrd riverine Dvsmiesof lhe l-ru.i s alexondrt' is lhe commonest ecosyslems.elc. The lu ghdive'siry of mammalcommunities iuiimanse. Crossotclru (Fig l), and is is usually capturedand i5also found in lhelarge numberofsmallcanivore specles' camivorc species alsooften flushedout by dogswhercupon As rcgatds the two families Mustelidae and Viverridae Klled bv dossbut blow on thehead or shootit wilh (ircluiing Herpestinae),they ale rcspectivelyr€presented the Mb;ti kiil it with a stick If lhe animattales refugein a hole' the by 6 and 17 sp€cies. ircn-tippedanows. Mbuti smokeil out. bow_huting days we h orderto realizeour own ethnozoologicalresearch During four consecutive bandcatch four cusimansesThis the forcst- and savamah dwelling people (hunler_ observeda;ingle Mbuti on very conmon for the Mbuti garherersand shiftingcuttivalots). we havecarried oul sDeciesseems-lo be Same eastemlturi Fores!.On the other hand the Iaunisticinvestigations on the mammalsof the Kit,ll and aichers in the the westemIturi Forcstdo not have Haut-Zaircreeions. ln thefollowing checklist we marked Mbuti neFhunteNof cuslmanses. (!) specieadirectly observed by us.at diffeftn! dmes many' chances of capturing &e hundngtechniques are used to berweenI984 and l98E;unmarked species werc recorded Theabove mentioned (Mellivoru capensis)' the black-legged otherauthors in prcviouspapers. Owing to taxonomists- kill rhe ratel bv ,iSripesl.who are very agEressrve disagreemenrrhrough litemtut€. we neglected tie subspecies mongoose{Sdeogdle andmen. HerPss,?r sp . dndall lhegenet levei Thefollowint abbreviationswere usedl TM, Tshopo- aga;st boti dogs Maiko Riven reeion;IF, lturi Forest;Vl, Vir$ga National species. Park(including Mont Hoyo); GA, Gaftmba NationalPark' The African civet (Cilettictis civetta) and the lwo_ paln (Nandinia binotata)are oltencaught and UD to the pres€ntour ethnozoologicalsuveys have sDo$ed civet The formei is easilycaptured with nets beenrn;inly carriedout in lhe lturi Forestand in thev inrnga eatenby the Mbuti. b€causeof its large size and terrestrial NarionalPark. for antetooes PhotoC-M. Carpaneto Fis.1. Alexander's cusimanse ( C rossarchus atetontll' different tibes (Bira, Bali, Ndaka, Budu, Lese,etc ) and have clos€batter relationswith Mbuti, who Fovide them with forcstDroducts such as meat and honey. These villagers' in fact. ars not sDecializedhunters and view the forest as oowerfuland aliin. TheyFefer to Providethe Mbuli with irarchfoods and rcceive meat in exchangeNevenheless lheyshow an inler€slingrapping cuhure to integmtethef oroieinrequiremenrs.lhe Aftican civet and all mongooses arElured with bananas.oil palrn fruits. anddead snaf,es as bai!. The villagers aPprecialeeating all speciesof small carnivores(exiludini'their own clan lotems) afld use the animalskins in a similarfashion as the Plgmies' Severalkinds offood restrictionsexist in thetraditional cultur€ofbo$ pygmiesand v illagers.For insEnce' accordm g rorhe Mbuti oiAiipanda (w. Iruril fiegrantgenet/G?nslra victoriae) mnybe'elten only by the elders Womendo not eat this adrnal becauseof its strongsmell; mencannot eal ir otherwisetheir offspringmight havediseas€s of the respin@rysystem. The parcnts of litrlechildren cannol eat thesponei-necked onei I Luta naculi'ol li5| bec^useLhei babiis would risk a dangercuscase ofdysenlery' According to the Mbuti Efe (E. lturi). Nandiniabino,ota andc ivettictis civeta may no! b€ eatenby pr€gnantwomen m by their husbands.;therwise the baby rnight be trom with some anomalies. All carnivorcsp€cies may alsobe totemic animalsof sinsle clans for both pygmies and villagers ln tha! case' thet believethese animals ale their own ancestorsand must Fig.2. Mbuti giJl wearinga hat mad€from G?'t€ttaskin' PhotoG.M- Carpaneto AII thesefood restrictions.together with the good slatus of fotst conservationand low human populallon behaviouri the latter is killed with every kind of arrow densiryin the lturi region{3 personsPer kmrr leadus to (simplewooden, pois€ned, and ircn-tiPPed) when resling in think rharrhe forest species of Mustelidaeand Viverridae uees. will still surviveunthrcatened for manyyears ln fact, there isno scie ific rnformationon the sbrusof theirpopulations Ottersare widespread and common in the I$ri Forest bul wecansugges! it is satisfactory:mostofthe speciesar€ onll occasronaigame for pygm ies. who lack h unting burare * idesoreadanicommon.and perhaPs they may tolerrle the for aquaticanimals. out o[ the water'wnen rechnrouei currerithunting