New insights into Sulawesi's apex predator: the Sulawesi civet Macrogalidia musschenbroekii
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New insights into Sulawesi's apex predator:
the Sulawesi civet Macrogalidia musschenbroekii
IWAN HUNOWU, ALFONS PATANDUNG, WULAN PUSPARINI, ISABEL DANISMEND
ANDI CAHYANA, SYAHRIL ABDULLAH, CASPIAN L. JOHNSON, HARRY HILSER
R I V O R A H A S I A , J E N L Y G A W I N A and M A T T H E W L I N K I E
Abstract The Sulawesi civet Macrogalidia musschenbroekii is mammal are endemic (Whitten et al., ). This includes
endemic to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, where it is the several ground-dwelling endemic ungulates: the babirusa
largest mammalian predator. Limited field data means that Babyrousa celebensis, Sulawesi warty pig Sus celebensis, and
little is known about the species’ distribution, habitat prefer- anoas Bubalus depressicornis and Bubalus quarlesi. Yet despite
ences, conservation status and needs, but it is believed to de- this potentially rich prey base, the island’s apex mammalian
pend on primary forest. We conducted camera-trap surveys predator is the native Sulawesi civet Macrogalidia musschen-
across the forests of North Sulawesi, including in two of broekii, weighing only – kg. Excluding feral dogs and cats,
its main protected areas: Bogani Nani Wartabone National the other mammalian carnivore species known from Sulawesi
Park and Tangkoko Nature Reserve. From camera trap are the Malay civet Viverra tangalunga and common palm
stations and , trap nights, Sulawesi civets were recorded civet Paradoxurus hermaphrodites, both introduced to the
times at stations, and in almost equal numbers in pri- island in the th century. The latter is rare on the island
mary forest, secondary forest and farmland, including the and may not be fully established (Wemmer & Watling, ;
first photographic records from both the National Park and Veron, ; Veron et al., ).
Nature Reserve. We also collected data on the Malay civet The Sulawesi civet is a little known carnivore species
Viverra tangalunga, an introduced species of Viverridae and named in when a specimen was brought to Leiden
potential competitor. Our records (n = ) revealed that it Museum, Netherlands (Wemmer & Watling, ; Veron,
is established in secondary forest; it only co-occurred twice ). It was nearly a century later, however, before studies
with the Sulawesi civet. With a lapse of . years since the on captured individuals, from central Sulawesi, provided the
last field record of the Sulawesi civet, our findings offer new first insights into its behaviour and diet, which include
insight into its status and new enthusiasm within the pro- rodents and fruit (e.g. Arenga and Pandanus), and indicated
vincial government for its conservation, which has led to a preference for primary forest (Wemmer & Watling, ).
an extension of camera-trap research into neighbouring The Sulawesi civet is categorized as Vulnerable on the
Gorontalo province. IUCN Red List because of a presumed population decline,
precipitated by loss of primary forest (Tasirin et al., ).
Keywords Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park, camera
There are, however, no recent and reliable population data,
traps, Macrogalidia musschenbroekii, small carnivore,
as reflected by the patchy IUCN species range map that
Sulawesi civet, Tangkoko Nature Reserve, Viverridae,
depicts four unconnected distribution polygons in various
Wallacea
parts of the island, probably a reflection of the low sampling
effort for this species. Whether this civet is able to survive
outside primary forest is unknown because of the low survey
T he Indonesian island of Sulawesi, located in the
Wallacea biodiversity hotspot, has exceptionally high
levels of endemism. For example, % of its species of
effort in other potential habitat types, a matter that applies
to most of Sulawesi’s mammals. To address this knowledge
gap, we conducted camera-trap surveys to investigate mam-
malian assemblages across North Sulawesi province, focus-
IWAN HUNOWU, ALFONS PATANDUNG, WULAN PUSPARINI (Corresponding author), ing on the province’s two main protected areas (Bogani
ANDI CAHYANA and MATTHEW LINKIE Wildlife Conservation Society, Indonesia Nani Wartabone National Park, formerly known as Dumo-
Program, Bogor, 16151, Indonesia. E-mail wpusparini@wcs.org
ga Bone National Park, and Tangkoko Nature Reserve),
ISABEL DANISMEND Dobbs Ferry High School, Dobbs Ferry, New York, USA
and potentially suitable habitat in areas between them.
SYAHRIL ABDULLAH Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park, North Sulawesi, One of our aims was to determine the presence and habitat
Indonesia
preferences of the Sulawesi civet across its North Sulawesi
CASPIAN L. JOHNSON, HARRY HILSER and RIVO RAHASIA Selamatkan Yaki, North
Sulawesi, Indonesia
range. Survey data from the National Park buffer zone
were also collected, to inform a local NGO partner’s land
RIVO RAHASIA and JENLY GAWINA Balai Konservasi Sumber Daya Alam, North
Sulawesi, Indonesia purchase scheme, which aims to secure unprotected
Received December . Revision requested February . biodiversity-rich forest corridors, for which the Sulawesi
Accepted June . First published online December . civet is one of several priority species.
Oryx, 2020, 54(6), 878–881 © 2019 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319000723
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 46.4.80.155, on 04 Feb 2021 at 19:45:03, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605319000723
Sulawesi’s apex predator 879
Camera traps were employed on a km grid cell system , generating , trap nights over . km from altitudes
with single cameras, set by four-person teams from the of –, m. Forty-nine camera stations were set in forest
Wildlife Conservation Society, Selamatkan Yaki, Ministry patches between the National Park and Tangkoko Nature
of Environment and Forestry, and the community. The Reserve during March–July , generating , trap nights
placement of cameras was systematic random in a checker- over km from altitudes of –, m. Field teams
board pattern in the National Park and Nature Reserve, and checked cameras and retrieved data monthly. Eleven cameras
random in patches of potentially suitable habitat elsewhere, malfunctioned or disappeared and were not included in the
including in the small Nature Reserve of Gunung Ambang analysis. The data for the Sulawesi civet from the National
(c. m). The mean distance between cameras was Park were supplemented by an opportunistic camera trap
± SD . km. Reconyx (Holmen, USA), Cuddleback (De record, and subsequent release of a snared individual.
Pere, USA) or Bushnell (Overland Park, USA) camera traps Camera-trap data were compiled for all civet species,
were fixed to a tree at c. cm above ground and – m from with time, date and location recorded. ArcGIS . (ESRI,
trails, without bait, and were continuously active. The land- Redlands, USA) was used to construct a geospatial database
scape included the National Park and its buffer zone, with for the camera-trap stations. A land cover map was created
camera stations set during September –April , using government data for , onto which records of
generating , trap nights over . km from altitudes the Sulawesi and Malay civets were overlain, and species
of –, m. The entire km Tangkoko Nature Reserve encounter rates were calculated (photographs separated by
was surveyed with camera stations set during July–October . minutes per trap nights).
TABLE 1 Data collected on the Sulawesi civet Macrogalidia musschenbroekii and Malay civet Viverra tangalunga from Bogani Nani
Wartabone National Park and Tangkoko Nature Reserve, and from forest patches between them (Fig. ). Asterisks indicate records
from the same location.
No. of
independent Relation to Altitude
Species recorded records protected area Time (m) Land-use type
Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park
Sulawesi civet 1 Inside 05.34 454 Secondary forest
(camera-trap study) 1 Inside 03.23 1,040 Secondary forest
1 Inside 21.55 344 Farmland
2 Inside 19.10, 01.35 324 Farmland
2 Inside 10.45, 20.55 1,069 Primary forest
1 Outside 04.46 253 Primary forest
2 Outside 05.33, 19.39 505 Secondary forest
3 Outside 18.23, 05.40, 21.45 290 Primary forest
Sulawesi civet 1 Inside 452 Secondary forest
(snared individual)
Sulawesi civet 1 Inside 01.15 1,086 Secondary forest
(opportunistic camera trap)
Malay civet 1 Outside 21.19 21 Farmland
Tangkoko Nature Reserve
Sulawesi civet 1 Inside* 20.11 544* Farmland*
1 Inside 18.19 458 Farmland
Malay civet 1 Inside 00.19 74 Secondary forest
1 Inside 02.12 126 Secondary forest
2 Inside 04.27, 19.17 180 Open land
4 Inside* 20.03, 19.06, 19.56, 18.25 544* Farmland*
1 Inside 20.47 575 Secondary forest
Other forest patches
Sulawesi civet 1 Outside 21.56 830 Primary forest
1 Inside (Gunung 18.16 1,515 Secondary forest
Ambang Nature
Reserve)
Malay civet 1 Outside 00.28 475 Secondary forest
13 Outside 19.25, 19.55, 21.27, 03.33, 904 Secondary forest
18.49, 19.57, 20.56, 01.10,
19.09, 19.56, 21.11, 01.21, 23.09
Oryx, 2020, 54(6), 878–881 © 2019 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319000723
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605319000723880 I. Hunowu et al.
FIG. 1 Locations of camera-trap records
of the Sulawesi civet Macrogalidia
musschenbroekii ( records in
locations) and Malay civet Viverra
tangalunga ( records in locations)
in Tangkoko Nature Reserve and Bogani
Nani Wartabone National Park, and areas
between, including in Gunung Ambang
Nature Reserve, North Sulawesi province,
Indonesia.
The high trapping effort but low detection rate for the palm civets. Brodie et al. () did not record the Sulawesi
Sulawesi civet (n = ) yielded a low encounter rate in the civet in , camera-trap nights in Tangkoko Nature
National Park (. records per trap nights), Tangkoko Reserve but did record the Malay civet. Thus the Sulawesi
Nature Reserve (.) and other forest patches (., includ- civet may be rare and/or ground traps set for a semi-arboreal
ing Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve). Malay civet detections civet may have a low detection probability.
(n = ) yielded a higher encounter rate in the Tangkoko We recorded the Sulawesi civet times at eight stations
Nature Reserve (.) and other forest patches (.), than in the National Park, and with two opportunistic records
in the National Park (.). We recorded the Sulawesi civet from two locations. These records were from altitudes of
in more locations () than the Malay civet (). –, m, from primary forest (three of stations), sec-
From camera trap nights, Lee et al. () captured ondary forest (/) and farmland (/; Table , Fig. ). From
three Sulawesi civet images in Southeast Sulawesi province the Tangkoko Nature Reserve there were two Sulawesi civet
(encounter rate = .), but none from Central (, records from farmland (/ stations), and m from for-
camera-trap nights and km of transect surveys) or est, including one recorded at the same station as a Malay
North Sulawesi province (, trap nights and km). civet. Our study is the first to confirm the presence of the
Additionally, they recorded one Malay civet and no common Sulawesi civet with photographic records in both Bogani
PLATE 1 Camera-trapped (a) Sulawesi civet
Macrogalidia musschenbroekii in primary
forest in Bogani Nani Wartabone National
Park, showing its characteristic striped tail
(February ), and (b) Malay civet
Viverra tangalunga (August ) in
Tangkoko Natural Reserve, and (c) snared
Sulawesi civet found by a National Park
ranger patrol team (March ), and
(d) examples of bushmeat seen at a
road-block patrol for monitoring wildlife
trade in Maelang (from left to right
Sulawesi civet, black-crested macaque
Macaca nigra and babirusa Babyrousa
celebensis) in .
Oryx, 2020, 54(6), 878–881 © 2019 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319000723
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605319000723Sulawesi’s apex predator 881
Nani Wartabone National Park and Tangkoko Nature Enhancing the Protected Area System in Sulawesi for supporting
Reserve (previous records were from tracks and scats). various parts of this work, and Jedediah Brodie for lending us camera
traps.
Amongst the other forest patches surveyed, the Sulawesi
civet was recorded in primary (/) and secondary forest Author contributions Study design: WP, IH, CJ, HH, ML; field-
(/) inside Gunung Ambang Nature Reserve, and the work: AP, CJ, RR; data analysis: AP, AC; writing: WP, ID, ML, IH, CJ.
Malay civet from secondary forest (/) and open land (/).
Despite the relatively low number of records, our data re- Conflicts of interest None.
veal diverse habitat use by the Sulawesi civet (Wemmer &
Ethical standards The research involved no human subjects, experi-
Watling, ; Plate ) and concur with Lee et al.’s () mentation with animals and/or collection of specimens, and otherwise
observation that the species is not restricted by elevation abided by the Oryx guidelines on ethical standards.
or forest disturbance. Our results showed widespread pres-
ence of the Sulawesi civet in Bogani Nani Wartabone
National Park, with the single Malay civet record from a References
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Oryx, 2020, 54(6), 878–881 © 2019 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319000723
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