A Preliminary Assessment of Civet “Home Breeding”: Morphological Changes and Conservation Relevance.

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4706859/v1

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A Preliminary Assessment of Civet “Home Breeding”: Morphological Changes and Conservation Relevance.

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4706859/v1

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Indonesia’s Civet Lover clubs are urban and suburban social groups comprised of civet (sp. Viverridae) pet keeping enthusiasts. Civet Lover clubs operate regionally and nationally, with trends in civet pet keeping facilitated in online social media platforms. The breeding of wild civets (known as “home breeding”) for the pet trade, grew in popularity in 2016 in response to consumer demand for civets with unique morphological characteristics. This research aims to analyse the scalability of civet home breeding and to document the morphological changes occurring to civet species through the process of selective breeding. This research is a case study analysis of the most popular home breed enterprise operating on Instagram from 2016 to 2021. Data comprise all Instagram posts shared to the platform during the period of operation, within which the number of civet copulations, births, and sales were recorded along with the featured civet’s species and morphological characteristics. The conservation implications of civet home breeding are discussed.

The exotic pet trade is a prominent driver of species decline in Southeast Asia (Tingley et al., 2017). Wildlife trapping has been made easier on the ground via the development of road networks that have opened up land to hunters (Sodhi et al., 2010), and increased internet accessibility has proliferated the sale of exotic pets in both local and global markets (Siriwat and Nijman, 2018). Domestic consumer demand for wild pets has been exacerbated by the rise of Southeast Asia’s middle classes and their subsequent purchasing power (Setyowati, Widayanti and Supriyanti, 2021), alongside the rising popularity of social media and WhatsApp (Hui, 2010) where exotic pet keeping is promoted and facilitated (Izzo, 2010). Subsequently, social media has provided researchers avenues for monitoring consumer trends in wildlife pet keeping. However, whilst the online pet trade in vulnerable or endangered endemic species such as otters, owls, and newts in southeast Asia have received enhanced attention in recent years (see for example Rowley et al., 2016; Harrington, Macdonald and D’Cruze, 2019; Siriwat, Nekaris and Nijman, 2020), trade in non-IUCN-listed endemic species has received less attention despite known population declines.

Common palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and Masked palm civets (Paguma larvata) are endemic species whose trade as pets in Indonesia is increasing. Both species are listed as ‘Least Concern’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. However, wild Paradoxurus and Paguma populations are decreasing (Duckworth et al., 2015, 2016) and harvesting quotas for civet species are routinely exceeded (Shepherd, 2008; Roberts, 2017; Lewis-Whelan et al., 2023a, Nijman, et al. 2024). Civets remain a common species openly sold in southeast Asia’s wildlife markets (Shepherd, 2008, 2012; Nijman et al., 2014, 2024; Morcatty et al., 2022) where they are sold into civet coffee and tourism industries and as exotic pets (Hooper, 2022a; Trinh Thi et al., 2022; Lewis-Whelan et al., 2023b).

In 2014, Nijman and colleagues documented the formation of Indonesian “Civet Lover” clubs, social clubs comprised of young Indonesian civet pet keeping enthusiasts. Wildlife traders signposted prospective civet owners to Civet Lover clubs for civet pet keeping advice, and the internet was noted as an instrumental platform for Civet Lover social networking. By 2017, 235 Indonesian Civet Lover Facebook groups were recorded with an average 4,031 members in each (Roberts, 2017). By 2020, civet “home breeding” (the selective breeding of civets to produce unique morphological offspring) was recorded (Hooper, 2022b). Increasing sharply on social media from 2016 onwards (Hooper, 2024), home breeding facilities were documented as entrepreneurial and non-regulated, occurring in the homes, backyards, and garages of urban and suburban settings. Species recorded included P. hermaphroditus, P. larvata, Viverricula indica, and Arctogalidia trivirgata (Hooper, 2022b). Lack of adequate trade regulation/enforcement and the low value conservation statuses of civets has enabled civet home breeding to thrive. However, lack of accurate baseline data on wild population numbers and trade estimates makes civet conservation status assessments difficult (Duckworth et al., 2015, 2016; Lewis-Whelan et al., 2023b).

Ongoing debate regarding the taxonomic classifications within the Viverridae family also hinder conservation monitoring as wild population genetics are poorly understood. Research by Veron et al. (2015) proposed that P. hermaphroditus should be recognized as separate species: P. hermaphroditus (Indian and Indochinese regions), Paradoxurus musangus (mainland Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Java and other small Indonesian islands) and Paradoxurus philippinensis (Mentawai Islands, Borneo and the Philippines). A further two subspecies within both P. musangus and P. philippinensis, were hypothesised along with at least two or three subspecies within P. hermaphroditus. Similarly, there are marked morphological differences between P. larvata from Indonesia compared to Vietnam, Laos, and China, including pelage and body size (Hunter, 2019), yet no genetic assessments have been conducted.

Monitoring the online trade in civet pets provides the opportunity to assess the scale of wild civet trade and the potential genealogical implications of captive breeding on species integrity. Given the challenges associated with wild data collection for nocturnal and cryptic species, social media can provide a gateway for researchers to assess the conservation impacts of emerging human-wildlife interactions. This paper serves as an initial account of the breeding rates and morphological changes occurring for Viverrid species within Indonesia’s burgeoning civet “home breeding” practices. The results presented here are from a subset of data taken from a larger online investigation of civet pet keeping practices in Indonesia (undertaken from 2019 until 2023). This paper addresses the following questions: What are the rates of civet breeding for a typical home-breed facility? Which species and from which geographic locations are civets utilised for home breeding? What are the implications of home breeding for the civet conservation?

The research presented here is a case study of a civet home breed enterprise “Civet Farm Pet Club” (pseudonymised), a popular civet home breeding club in operation on Instagram between 2016 and 2021. Civet Farm Pet Club was selected as a case study due to the level of detail included in their descriptions of the civets and the context in which they were filmed or photographed. Each post uploaded to Instagram by Civet Farm Pet Club was accompanied by a written description of the civet species, morphology, and (often) the location of an individual’s origin.

Data collection involved reviewing all Instagram posts by Civet Farm Pet Club published to Instagram between September 2016, when the account came into existence, to March 2021, when the business was disbanded after a disagreement between the founding members. It is worthy to note that the operation is still ongoing, but it now operates separately under two differently branded Instagram accounts.

Images and video content were downloaded using “4Stogram,” a subscription software which allowed bulk download and cataloging of all content. In total, 1,091 posts were downloaded. Data were cleaned by removing images and videos that did not include civet mating, births, or the sale of offspring, and where there was confidence that the same civets had already been recorded. This process resulted in a total of 276 posts, to which the following details were recorded: publication date, creator description, civets mating and birth events, the number of civets advertised for sale, the featured species, origin, and morphology. Black and albino pelage morphs were categorised as “natural” and “leucistic” respectively. Unless stated in the video or image commentary, it was not possible to ascertain if these were distinct morphs or whether it was a result of poor lighting or camera quality. P. hermaphroditus noted in post commentary as originating from Bali were almost always a heterogenous brown/beige colour and so were included in the “natural” category.

Table 1

Number of recorded mating events, births, and civets for sale as featured on the Civet Farm Pet Club Instagram account.
	Post themes			Total no. civets recorded across posts
Year	Mating’s	Births	Sale adverts	Total no. civets recorded across posts
2016	0	1	5	12
2017	0	1	17	40
2018	0	10	2	68 (41.6% increase)
2019	10	21	34	176 (158.8% increase)
2020	1	79	38	381 (116.4% increase)
2021	0	27	7	109
Total	11	139	103	786

Table 2

Number of individual civets’ species/origin demographics recorded within the home breed enterprise Civet Farm Pet Club Instagram account from September 2016 to March 2021. .
	Species/Origin location							Total
Year	P. hermaphroditus (origin unknown)	P. hermaphroditus (Bali origin)	P. hermaphroditus (Java origin)	P. hermaphroditus (Borneo origin)	A. trivirgata	P. larvata	A. binturong
2016	5	5	0	0	0	0	2	12
2017	37	1	0	0	0	0	2	40
2018	58	5	0	0	5	0	0	68
2019	139	21	6	2	2	6	0	176
2020	314	51	2	0	1	13	0	381
2021	82	20	0	0	0	7	0	109
Total by taxon/origin	635	103	8	2	8	26	4	786

Scale of civet home breeding and species involved.

In total, 11 copulations, 139 births, and 103 pet sales advertisements were recorded on the Civet Farm Pet Club Instagram account between September 2016 and March 2021; within which 786 individual civets were documented (Tables 1 & 2). Of these, four distinct species (P. hermaphroditus, Arctogalidia trivirgata, Paguma larvata, and Arctictis binturong) were observed, with three distinct origin locations specified for P. hermaphroditus: Bali, Java, and Borneo.

The number of civet sales typically increased each year, with the exception of 2018 and 2021, the latter year accounting for only three months prior to the Instagram account being disbanded. The total number of civets featured on the business’s Instagram increased by an average of 105.6% per year (2016 and 2021 were omitted from calculations due to these representing less than one operational year). By 2020, at least one birth event took place per month with the most births recorded in November 2020 and January 2023, at 13 and 14 births respectively (Fig. 1).

Morphological changes

Five non-natural pelage morphologies were observed in home-bred progeny: Leucistic (all or mostly white), Platinum (light grey), Mosaic (black, grey, and white patchwork), Platinum-Mosaic (grey hued patchwork), and White-Tail Tip (Fig. 3). The first rare morphology to emerge was platinum, which appeared briefly in 2017, followed by the birth of eight mosaic individuals the following year (Fig. 2). By 2020, the mosaic morphology accounted for 20.52% (78 of 380 individuals) of the Civet Farm Pet Club population. As well as pelage alterations, heterochromia was also observed in mosaic and platinum mosaic progeny.

It is already well established that the number of civets on sale as pets in Indonesia’s wildlife markets far exceed wild collection quotas (Nijman et al., 2014; 2024, Morcatty et al., 2022). Data here confirm the use of protected species for civet home breeding. Trade of civets in Bali has never been permitted (Nijman et al., 2024), yet 103 civets from Bali were recorded in this study and the number was likely higher as not all posts stated the civet’s origin location. A. binturong was present within the first two years of the home-breeding operation, despite the species being protected from commercial trade in Indonesia since 2008 (Shepherd, 2008). It’s disappearance from the groups Instagram from 2018 could be genuine or its inclusion in home-breeding could have simply been hidden from public view. Similar findings have been reported in Vietnam, where government sanctioned civet coffee farms are used as “ghost facilities” through which trade prohibited civet species are smuggled as exotic pets (Trinh Thi et al., 2022).

Civet home breeding is economically appealing. Where wild civets can be acquired for an average of 187 thousand IDR ($13 USD) per animal (Hooper, 2022a), rare morph home breeds can reach prices upwards of 3 million IDR ($209 USD) per animal (Hooper, 2022b). The scalability of home breeding was evident here by the year on year increase in reproductive output. By 2020, the birth rate grew by 276% (from 27 to 79 births). The facility enacted scalability by moving their business from the private homes of their respective group members to a purpose-built warehouse. Thus, whilst civet home breeding is mostly a hobbyist activity of civet lovers, demand for civet pets (as promoted on social media) has the potential to transition home breeding into commercial businesses. Increased civet home breeding in 2020 could be an economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 70 million Indonesian workers (more than half of the countries workforce) rely on the informal labour sector (Octavia, 2020), much of which is supplied by Indonesia’s tourism industry that was suspended during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns (Caritas, 2021).

Platinum was the first morph to emerge from civet home breeding, the same as observed in the farming of silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in 1933 (Mohr and Tuff, 1939). In farmed silver foxes the platinum morphology is inherited as an incomplete genetic trait (Belyaev, Trut and Ruvinsky, 1975), thus when a platinum animal is bred with a non-platinum, both colourations are partially expressed and so often result in a different phenotype. This trend is also observed here for civets. Platinum civets often expressed patches of speckled white or retained the patterning typical of P. hermaphroditus (dark muzzles, mottled neck, and intermittent dark spots and stripes down the back and tail) but in variations of platinum colours. Thus, data showed that the civet home breeding is producing specimens with distinct morphological characteristics compared to wild counterparts, the results of which could present implications for species conservation. For silver foxes, platinum and white colour morphologies are associated with domestic behavioural characteristics including friendliness towards humans (Trut, Oskina and Kharlamova, 2009). It is not yet known if platinum civets have reduced life expectancy (as is the case for platinum foxes), nor the extent to which their behaviour (and thus their ability to survive in the wild) may be compromised. Whilst rare morphs may be a niche conservation concern at this early stage, the dominance of natural morphs in home-breed facilities presents complications for trade monitoring. In total, 748 P. hermaphroditus were recorded in this case study, and “naturalistic” morphologies remained the most prominent. Therefore, without regulation, it will become increasingly difficult to monitor the origin locations (wild or captive) of civets traded as pets.

Finally, under current understanding of taxonomic classification of Viverrids, offspring of P. hermaphroditus from isolated populations are understood to belong to the same species (Duckworth et al., 2016; Hunter, 2019). However, the taxonomic classifications of civets are under debate (see Nandini and Mudappa, 2010; Veron et al., 2015; Do Linh San et al., 2016) and given the island locations to which these animals originated, the crossbreeding of civets from Bali/ Java/ Borneo could be a form of hybridisation. Mating pairs that originated from different island populations would not have come in contact with each other were it not for human intervention; and considering the distinctiveness of their phenotypic characteristics, it is possible that there could be genetic distinctions between P. hermaphroditus from these regions. Further genetic analysis is required for these populations.

This research has documented the morphological changes underway for endemic civet species in Indonesia due to unregulated captive breeding practices. Whilst civet home breeding could provide an alternative supply chain of civet pets than hunting, data here shows that civets from protected species and populations are being harvested from multiple island locations based upon their morphological characteristics. Thus, the demand for unique morphologies which hold a higher economic status, could feed hunting demand.

Overall, internet-based trade monitoring offers a useful tool for data collection and analysis and should be applied more widely to include trade monitoring of endemic species yet to be formally listed as vulnerable to extinction. Trade monitoring is an important tool for cryptic species where wild data is lacking. Genetic research into wild and captive-bred civet populations is recommended.

This research was approved by the Exeter University ethics committee.

Funding

Not applicable. No funding was obtained for this research.

Author Contribution

The named author is the only contributor to this manuscript.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable / can be provided upon request to the author.

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A Preliminary Assessment of Civet “Home Breeding”: Morphological Changes and Conservation Relevance.

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