Masked palm civet's culture technique

Masked palm civet is a kind of wild animal with precious fur, which belongs to the genus Cerambycidae. There are 17 subspecies and 9 in China. This is the only species of the genus Beaver, which belongs to the primitive group of predators as well as other species in the family. Fruit beaver is a fur animal, its skin can make fur, is one of the traditional bulk export fur in China.

Morphological characteristics

Masked palm civet has a limb length of 48cm, a tail length of 37cm and a weight of 3600cm and 5000g. The body is slightly fat, the neck is thick and short, and it is not easy to distinguish it from the body. The body hair is short and thick, the body color is yellow-grayish brown, the head hair is black, there is a distinct four-band from the forehead to the bridge of the nose, there are white spots under the eyes and ears, and the back hair is grayish brown. The back of the head, shoulder, the end of the limbs and the back half of the tail are black, the limbs are short and strong, each with five toes. The toe end has claws, the claws are slightly flexible, and the tail is about 2/3 of the body length. Commonly known as a dog with a broken face.

Life habits

Masked palm civet is a forest edge animal, nocturnal animal. It mainly lives in forests, bushes, caves, trees or soil caves, and can be found occasionally in reclaimed land. Like to do activities at dusk, night and before sunrise, and be good at climbing. Is an omnivorous animal, quite like to eat succulent fruits; to wild fruits and grains as the staple food, but also eat branches and leaves, but also to the orchard to eat fruit, occasionally eat their own feces. There are stinky glands near the anus, which will release a strange smell to drive them away when they are attacked.

1. Growth and reproduction: masked palm civet is in estrus from February to May every year. The gestation period is 70 ~ 90 days. Give birth in summer, 1 to 5 cubs per litter. The life span is 15 years. Sexual maturity can be achieved at 10 to 12 months after birth and weighing more than 4 kilograms at about 1 year old. The breeding period is from March to August every year, in which there are 4-6 estrous cycles, each estrous cycle is 10-16 days, with an average of 14 days, and the estrous duration is about 8 days. In estrus, the female beaver's labia is swollen, obviously enlarged, everted, and wrinkles appear on the surface; the color changes from pink to red, the vaginal opening is large, and mucus is secreted, and the female beaver is accepted to mate, and after mating, orange vaginal plugs fall out of the vagina. Male cats always have sexual desire from March to August, the testicles hang into the scrotum, the scrotum hangs outside the abdominal wall, and the skin turns pink. After 9 months, the testis atrophies and the libido disappears. The gestation period of the mating female civet ranged from 51 to 71 days, with an average of 55 days. The newborn beaver weighs 130 to 150 grams, and the baby beaver born before May can weigh more than 3 kilograms at the end of the year.

2. Habitat distribution: masked palm civet is distributed in the field in Indochina Peninsula, Indonesia, Myanmar, India, Bhutan, Nepal and the vast areas south of North China, from the western suburbs of Beijing, Datong, Shanxi, Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi, western Sichuan to the Himalayas in the south of Xizang, and south to Taiwan, Hainan Island and the southern margin of Yunnan, among which named subspecies are distributed in the southeastern provinces. The subspecies endemic to Taiwan are distributed from low to high altitude mountain areas, but mainly in middle and low altitude mountain areas and reclaimed land.

In addition, there are a large number of artificial breeds of masked palm civet in Jiangxi, Guangxi, Hainan, Fujian and Guangdong.

Culture technology

Masked palm civet has miscellaneous food habits, tolerance to rough feeding, simple feeding method, strong disease resistance, easy domestication and high economic benefits of artificial feeding.

1. The construction of the house: masked palm civet goes out day and night, likes to live in the house and live in groups, and has no special requirements for the beaver house. Masked palm civet is not strict with the periodic change of sunshine, and the main forms of cage are cage culture, group culture and the combination of cage culture and group cultivation. The cage is made of galvanized iron mesh, and the cage is made of bricks into small rooms and dark chambers. the cage should be equipped with a perch for masked palm civet to climb and perch. Its range of activities is small, so it is necessary to keep the environment dry and quiet. The cement floor is suitable for the inner room, which is easy to scour. As the fruit beaver is good at climbing, perch bars and tree stumps can be set up indoors and outdoors for animals to climb for activity and rest; the room should also be provided with a top net or cover with a mesh of less than 5 square centimeters to prevent animals from escaping and ensure safety. Summer to prevent exposure to rain, winter to prevent the wind, especially at night, can be covered by grass curtains or cotton curtains, generally maintain its living environment temperature at 25: 30 ℃. Drinking water must be clean and fresh, sun-dried water in summer and frozen water in winter should not be allowed to drink, and the water should be changed frequently.

2. Selection and mating: for masked palm civet, the ratio of male to female is 1 ∶ 2 or 1 ∶ 3. The male beaver has the highest success rate of mating from 4 to 6 years old. In the selection of beavers, excellent beavers with moderate size, strong body, good fur quality, bright color, clear white spots on the head, moderate size, strong adaptability and less disease should be selected. The introduction should be carried out in November. Masked palm civet had poor adaptability to the environment and low disease resistance at an early stage. The introduction is too late to have a great impact on the reproduction in the coming year. The timing of seed selection should be divided into three stages: the primary election of adult masked palm civet should be held from May to June every year. Choose young beavers with early birth, normal development, early and exuberant feeding. The young beaver should leave 30% more than the planned number. From September to October every year, re-selection is carried out on the basis of primary selection according to depilation, hair changing, growth and development, and recovery of body condition. Eliminate a small number of sick or poorly recovered beavers. For masked palm civet (young beaver), individuals with normal development, good plush quality, strong physique, moderate body size and early hair change should be selected. The selection is carried out in November every year, all the pre-selected beavers are comprehensively identified, and finally the beaver herds are selected according to the plan. In the selected number, priority should be given to adults, and the insufficient part should be supplemented by young beavers, the proportion of which in that year does not exceed 30% of the beaver group. Finally, the male-female ratio of the beaver group was kept at 1 ∶ 3 or 1 ∶ 2.