About 66 species of carnivore make up the civet family, or viverrids. Discovered in southern Europe, Asia, Africa and Madagascar, these cat-like creatures are generally lithe and low-slung with pointed snouts and long tails. Many civets, genets and Hnsangs are boldly marked with stripes or spots. Smell plays an essential part in these loved ones and all viverrids have scent glands within the anus which produce pungent secretions.

Genets rest during the day in burrows, on branches or among rocks. At night they hunt all kinds of mammals, birds and reptiles. The aquatic genet lives by streams in Central African rainforests and eats fish. Palm civets are discovered mainly in Asia, where they are famous banana burglars. The typical palm civet is occasionally called the toddy cat because it enjoys a tipple of toddy – the sap tapped and fermented to make palm wine.

The binturong of Asian forests is a thickset palm civet with shaggy fur. It’s one of only two carnivores with a prehensile tail (the other is the kinkajou). The African palm civet explores the tree canopy at night, catching little vertebrates, insects, birds and fruit and eggs. It communicates with an eerie, siren-like call and marks the borders of its territory and fruiting trees with strong scent. The big Indian civet is a fierce predator of South-East Asian forests.

The banded Hnsang and spotted Hnsang of Asia and the African Hnsang are very slender and elegant genet like animals with long narrow heads and tapering snouts. Nocturnal and secretive, they’re extremely nimble and swift within the trees and on the ground. They catch little vertebrates for example birds, lizards and rats. About 31 species of mongoose live in Africa, Europe and Asia and some of them have been introduced to other areas.

They range in size from the 24cm long (without having tail) slender mongoose to the 58cm lengthy white tailed mongoose. Most are solitary hunters while others reside in pairs. Insects and reptiles feature in numerous a mongooses’ diet. Eight species, including dwarf, Gambian and banded mongooses and grey meerkats live in packs – complex societies based on mutual dependency. When the group goes foraging, babysitters are left behind to guard the den.

They tend to forage in daylight and are prone to attack from birds of prey. Grey meerkats keep lookout for each other, taking turns at guard duty. Dwarf mongooses counter-attack predators fiercely and often succeed in rescuing 1 of their own from a martial eagle’s talons. Injured mongooses are nursed back to health by pack members.

Madagascar has its fair share ofviverrids. In addition to a number of unique species of Malagassy mongoose, it is home to strange predators – the fossa, the faIanouc and the fanaloka. The fossa is really a big animal that has taken on a cat-like role on an island without having native cats. It scales trees with ease, leaping after lemurs and other prey. The badger-like 4kg falanouc eats invertebrates. Nearly half its size, the fanaloka is really a spotted fox-like predator of rodents, frogs, molluscs and sandeels.