Cullenia exarillata – a potentially important resource for Brown Palm Civet Paradoxurus jerdoni during a period of fruit scarcity in the Western Ghats

In the case of territorial frugivores, floristic composition and productivity within an individual’s territory add to the challenge of seasonal fruit scarcity and it are also linked to the fitness of the individual (Borges 1993, Kusch et al. [...] The scat of the Brown Palm Civet is distinguished from Small Indian Civet and other small mammals in the study area on the basis of their size, shape and location. [...] The analysis of scat was carried out at the field station, where the flowers, fruit seeds and other plant matter as well as insect and other animal material in the scats were identified with the help of specialist botanists and zoologists. [...] The number of identifiable species consumed and the percentage and frequency of occurrence of different items in the scats are shown in Table 1. [...] Although the scats collected during the research reported here indicated that the civets in the survey area had a strong seasonal preference for Cullenia flowers, the scats were collected over three days: this is too short a sampling period to assess the relative importance of Cullenia exarillata to the survival of Brown Palm Civet.