Update From The Field: The Search For South Africa's Elusive Night Roamers

Since March 2024, Lucy Newton (one of The Civet Project Foundation trustees) has been establishing a new pilot study to trace the elusive Viverrids of South Africa: the Night Roamers research initiative. In partnership with Mankwe Reserve, Lucy has been diligently identifying study locations, testing camera trapping methods, and recording species findings. In this latest blog, Lucy brings us fresh insights from the field.

Field Update

It has been a very busy couple of weeks on the Night Roamers study. After getting Viverrid

result from the last camera trap, we moved the camera traps to new a location to explore

more of the reserve, enabling assessment of the Viverrids in different habitat types.

We set about moving the camera traps to quiet places on the reserve, areas where there is limited human disturbance. It is always important for us to find places that are quiet for the

camera traps as we know that Viverrids are very shy and wary of humans. We placed the first

camera trap in an abandoned quarry area which was created in the1980’s and is now just a dip within the savanna landscape. There is long grass surrounding the area and a moderate density of tree species. We placed the second camera trap on the embankment of a dry river bed, within a long grass area of a savanna scrubland.

The output from both these cameras were interesting in aiding our understanding of habitat types which should be utilised in the long-term study. As there is very little known about Viverridae in Africa it is important to get some initial data on general habitat use by surveying a range of habitats within the known parameters thatViverridae operate in. When starting the study we were aware that these species may be hard to find and it was imperative that we survey the whole reserve to work out the best areas and habitats to try and locate small nocturnal carnivores.

Why Conduct a Pilot Study?

By conducting a pilot study, it informs us what habitats and environments we should focus the main study camera trapping within. It ensures that once the project is in full swing, the areas selected for study are the right habitat type, and so they are likely to be utilised by Viverridae.

Although Viverrids are our target species, we are recording all instances in which we observe nocturnal small mammals. This will provide valuable data about the reserves night-time inhabitants.

At the quarry we recorded a slender mongoose (Herpestes sanguineus) running across the open area. Slender Mongoose are solitary animals, which is a common trait for

Herpestidae, who are generally solitary with the exception of a few species such as the

banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) that live large groups. Slender mongooses and

banded mongooses are common in South Africa and are diurnal in their behavioural

patterns. When driving on the reserve it is highly likely that we will see a slender or

banded mongoose as both species of mongoose are least concern in the IUCN Red list and are common throughout the region. This is not the same for the Viverridae species on the reserve (such as African civet and genets), who are rarer and much more elusive. White tailed mongoose (Ichneumia albicauda) marsh mongoose (Atilax paludinosus), the African civet (Civettictis civetta) and both species of genets (Genetta) are nocturnal in their behavioural patterns, but they are likely to be observed at different times of night, and some may even be seen in the day.

To increase our chances of sightings, we expanded the project's recording base from just camera traps to live recordings. In all the vehicles on site, any time a small carnivore was seen, their location, number and behaviour was recorded to ensure that all sightings are captured. This increased the breadth of our data collection and ensured all possible sightings are being recorded both day and night to cover all species.

Video of large spotted genet (Genetta tigrina), filmed as part of the Night Roamers study. Film credit: Morgan Bentley.

Night Drives

Night drives are very important for the management of the reserve and the research project. There are night patrols for security purposes around the reserves every night to secure the fence and reduce the risk of poaching. The reserve has both driven and on-foot security moving around the fence and internal roads throughout the night. Vehicle lights can prevent poachers coming into the reserves, and on-foot patrols can more stealthily monitor movement and the threat of a poaching incidents. These driven patrols can also be used to collect data on our nocturnal Viverridae.

I have been on a number of night drives, and I always take the opportunity to spotlight to scan the bush for any potential sightings. On one particular drive we managed to see a thick tailed bushbaby (Otolemur crassicsudatus), cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), and a large spotted genet (Genetta tigrina). It was very amazing to see a large spotted genet, they were moving around in the tree line around an artificial water source. When they saw us in the vehicle they ran, and we saw the flick of their tail as they ran off into the thicket.

The large spotted genets location was recorded on our sightings data sheet for the project and we intend to put a camera trap up near that location to try and capture the genet on camera and see if there are any other Viverridae utilising the area. All the sightings of Viverridae that are seen on patrols are recorded in the same way as with camera traps, ensuring that the date, time and location (GPS is recorded), so the data can be use in the studies.

Overall, we are making process finding locations that have signs of small carnivore including the the highly elusive Viverrids, and identifying what types of habitats they tend to occur in. We have broadened our research scope ensuring more consistent data collection. Next week we are putting the cameras in a fenced off area of the reserve again, but in a more northern location hoping to see if there is any activity in the other part of this separated area.

Author Bio:

Lucy Newton holds a Bachelor of Science Degree (with Honours) in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare, and a Foundation Degree in Applied Animal Behaviour and Conservation. In university, Lucy became interested in human and animal interactions, and she would like to pursue a Master's degree in Human and Animal Interaction in the future. Lucy is keen to understand and develop strategies to improve the relationships held between humans and animals and hopes to research the impact of civet’s musk on the African Viverridae.

How You Can Help

• Sign up to our Mailing List to received our monthly e-newsletter.

• Donate- just £10 keeps one of our camera traps in operations for 1 month

• Follow, like, comment and share our work on social media. You'll find us on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok.