THE PRELIMINARY STUDY ON BREEDING BEHAVIOR

OF CAPTIVE BANDED PALM CIVET( Hemigalus derbyanus )

IN NAKHONRATCHASIMA ZOO
Nakhonratchasima Zoo is
located in Nakhonratchasima
province in the Northeast part
of Thailand, which is about 280
kilometers far from Bangkok.

35. Bangkok
51. Nakhonratchasima
The Zoo covers area 31 hectare.
There are more than 250 species of animal in the zoo
There are about 400,000 visitors that come the zoo per year.
Introduction
- Banded Palm Civet (Hemigalus derbyanus) is a nocturnal
carnivorous species, 90% of feed is insects.
- Pale brown to orange-brown with black bands across upperparts;
black and white strips on face.
- Body weight is about 1-3 Kg.
- Frequently forages on the ground, but climbs well.
- It is Thai protected species and CITES Appendix 2.
Introduction
- Found only in peninsular Thailand, Malaysia, Sumatra and
Borneo.
Introduction
- Nakhonratchasima Zoo’ s First Banded Palm Civet arrived in July 1997.
- NRZOO was success in breeding this civet at 22 June 1999, one female.
- The baby separate when reach 5 month old.
- Given 2-3 month interval, then move dam to sire enclosure.
- The period of time from putting to giving birth is about 4 month.
Method of study
- Banded Palm Civet are nocturnal animals.
- They were observe for reproduction behavior from 18.00 - 06.00 hours
as show in table 1
Table 1
Day 1 from : 18.00 - 20.00 hours Day 2 from : 20.00 - 22.00 hours
and : 24.00 - 02.00 hours and : 02.00 - 04.00 hours
Day 3 from : 22.00 - 24.00 hours
and : 04.00 - 06.00 hours.
- Observation date was done 12 days alternate to the interval , make
3 observation night.
Animals used for this study
- The 3 year old male civet , wild caught civet.
- The female civet, the first zoo born in NR zoo, 2 year old.
Preparation of the animals
- The 5 month old female was separated from mother and move to the
cage next to the male.
- The cage were adjacent to each other by the backside,
using the chain-link material.
Preparation of the animals
- The pair was kept next to each other since 22 November 1999.
- The pair showed no aggression toward each other.
- When the keeper felt confident that the animal could stay together,
then move to the breeding enclosure.
Breeding cage and equipment for observation
- Breeding facility’ s dimension is 4.5*6*2.5 ( W*L*H)
- Close - circuit, infrared camera, television was installed to
observed the animals.
 ROUND ROUND1 ROUND2 ROUND3 ROUND4 Activity
DAY ( 1-3 ) ( 4 - 6 ) ( 7- 9 ) ( 10 - 12 ) ( 15 - 30 )
TIME
06.00 08.00 o o X X feeding _
08.00 - 10.00 o X X xxx & mating o
10.00 - 12.00 o o X o sleeping _
00.00 - 02.00 o o o o sleeping _
02.00 - 04.00 o o X xx mating o
04.00 - 06.00 o o o o sleeping _

O = non mating _ = non observe

X = mating
Result
- Interval of 18.00 - 22.00 hours, is the most active period for the
animals. The animal start to stalking and walking around the cage,
observing and smelling to branch, boxes.
- Interval of 22.00 - 24.00 hours and 24.00 - 02.00 hours is the
inactive period. Majority of the activity is sleeping.
Result
- Interval of 02.00 - 04.00 hours is the time they wake up again
and find the feed left on the feed station. Some time, mating was
record in this interval.
- Interval of 04.00 - 06.00 hours, Mainly sleeping in the box.
- Interval of 06.00 - 18.00 hours, Animals tend to sleep all day
long in the box.
Breeding behavior
- Day 1- 5 both male and female were interested to get close to
another but have some fear and excited.
- Day 6 , they could get near and had direct connect to each other. Male
mounted female and some time female took turns to mount male too.
Breeding behavior
- Day 7 -11, Mounting was more often. Observers concluded that
these were successful copulating.
- Day 12-14, They were less frequent mating. Duration of mounting
was shorter.
- Day 15-30, No mating attempt were record. Author concluded that
the mating occurred in Day 7-11 .
Gestation period
- Banded Palm Civet has gestation period of 75- 80 days. The possible
birth date is 3-13 June 2001.
- The pair of the civets in this study failed to undergo pregnancy.
- Authors concluded that this case may be false-pregnancy.
Conclusion
- The pairs started to mating in Day 5.
- The most frequent mating occurred in DAY 7-11.
- The period that the civet most frequently mate was
18.00 - 22.00 hours and 02.00 - 04.00 hours.
Discussion
- This is an observation from only one pair, so the results obtained
is just a record.
- Study should be undertaken on the next breeding on this pair and
other pair.
- We are unluckily not having baby born in this mating, so the other
information on delivering, baby rearing, weaning or time of returning
to heat is not recorded.
 THANK YOU
1. Mr. Sophon Damnui
General Director of The Zoological Park Organization of Thailand
Under The Royal Patronage of H.M. The King
2. WG. CDR. Krawee Kretaphon
Nakhonratchasima Zoo Director