What is the maximal age a African civet reaches?
An adult African civet (Civettictis civetta) usually gets as old as 28 years.
African civets are around 68 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 318 grams (0.7 lbs) and measure 20.6 cm (0′ 9″). As a member of the Viverridae family (genus: Civettictis), their offspring is 2 babies per pregnancy. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 79.2 cm (2′ 8″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
The African civet (; Civettictis civetta) is a large viverrid native to sub-Saharan Africa, where it is considered common and widely distributed in woodlands and secondary forests. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008. In some countries, it is threatened by hunting, and wild-caught individuals are kept for producing civetone for the perfume industry.The African civet is primarily nocturnal and spends the day sleeping in dense vegetation, but wakes up at sunset. It is a solitary mammal with a unique coloration: the black and white blotches covering its coarse pelage and rings on the tail are an effective cryptic pattern. The black bands surrounding its eyes closely resemble those of the raccoon. Other distinguishing features are its disproportionately large hindquarters and its erectile dorsal crest. It is an omnivorous generalist, preying on small vertebrates, invertebrates, eggs, carrion, and vegetable matter. It is one of the few carnivores capable of eating toxic invertebrates such as termites and millipedes. It detects prey primarily by smell and sound rather than by sight. It is the sole member of its genus.
Animals of the same family as a African civet
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Viverridae):
- Rusty-spotted genet with 2 babies per pregnancy
- Large-spotted civet growing to a mass of 4.53 kgs (9.99 lbs)
- Aquatic genet growing to a mass of 1.65 kgs (3.64 lbs)
- Small Indian civet becoming 10.5 years old
- Malagasy civet becoming 11 years old
- Angolan genet growing to a mass of 1.86 kgs (4.1 lbs)
- Central African oyan becoming 5.33 years old
- Malayan civet becoming 12 years old
- Haussa genet growing to a mass of 1.4 kgs (3.09 lbs)
- Asian palm civet becoming 22.42 years old
Animals that reach the same age as African civet
With an average age of 28 years, African civet are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Cotton-top tamarin usually reaching 23.08 years
- Egyptian fruit bat usually reaching 22.83 years
- West Indian manatee usually reaching 30 years
- Eurasian beaver usually reaching 25 years
- Brown-mantled tamarin usually reaching 24.5 years
- Mantled howler usually reaching 25 years
- American badger usually reaching 26 years
- Eastern gray squirrel usually reaching 24 years
- Geoffroy’s spider monkey usually reaching 27.25 years
- Gelada usually reaching 28 years
Animals with the same number of babies African civet
The same number of babies at once (2) are born by:
- Chestnut tree mouse
- Duthie’s golden mole
- Jungle palm squirrel
- Eurasian lynx
- Panamint kangaroo rat
- Savi’s pipistrelle
- True’s vole
- Texas kangaroo rat
- Blanford’s fox
- Jaguarundi
Weighting as much as African civet
A fully grown African civet reaches around 12.09 kg (26.65 lbs). So do these animals:
- Gray snub-nosed monkey weighting 12.27 kilos (27.05 lbs) on average
- Marine otter weighting 11.2 kilos (24.69 lbs) on average
- Tibetan macaque weighting 10.6 kilos (23.37 lbs) on average
- Proboscis monkey weighting 12.28 kilos (27.07 lbs) on average
- Red-flanked duiker weighting 12.06 kilos (26.59 lbs) on average
- Reeves’s muntjac weighting 13.5 kilos (29.76 lbs) on average
- Binturong weighting 13 kilos (28.66 lbs) on average
- East Javan langur weighting 9.72 kilos (21.43 lbs) on average
- Iberian lynx weighting 11.08 kilos (24.43 lbs) on average
- Klipspringer weighting 13.46 kilos (29.67 lbs) on average
Animals as big as a African civet
Those animals grow as big as a African civet:
- Cameroon clawless otter with 83.7 cm (2′ 9″)
- Black-fronted duiker with 94.4 cm (3′ 2″)
- Lowland paca with 64.7 cm (2′ 2″)
- Short-eared dog with 83.3 cm (2′ 9″)
- Jaguarundi with 70.1 cm (2′ 4″)
- Canada lynx with 70.4 cm (2′ 4″)
- Collared peccary with 88.6 cm (2′ 11″)
- Honey badger with 68.4 cm (2′ 3″)
- Black-backed jackal with 70.9 cm (2′ 4″)
- Brown dorcopsis with 67.9 cm (2′ 3″)