Predicted Distribution of the Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus Hermaphroditus (mammalia: Carnivora: Viverridae) on Borneo

The common palm civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus is a small carnivore occurring in a broad array of habitats on Borneo, including logged and unlogged forest, cultivated land, and the outskirts of villages and towns. It is assigned incomplete legal protection in Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam. In addition, the recent, rapidly expanding increase in capture for use in civet coffee production, especially in Indonesia, might adversely affect its population. We used 67 (Balanced Model) and 113 (Spatial Filtering Model) occurrence records within a MaxEnt niche distribution modelling approach to predict its current possible distribution on Borneo. A large proportion of Borneo is predicted to be suitable habitat, including human-modified areas such as plantations. Predicted suitability was lower in coastal regions. Despite its high adaptability to habitat change, conservation actions for this species might be needed because it is widely caught for the production of civet coffee and killed as a pest or for meat. Further research is needed to investigate how these legal and illegal activities affect the common palm civet populations.