Rare Linsang born

They are tiny and eat rodents, small birds and insects. The linsang is from the civet family, which is related to cats, but there is not much documented information on this nocturnal mammal.

Thus, the birth of a rare banded linsang at the Taiping Zoo has spurred new hopes of studying the elusive animal. It is the first successful birth of a linsang in captivity in Malaysia.

The month-old baby linsang spends most of its time dozing and being weaned by its four-year-old mother.

“It’s a beautiful animal but very little is known about the banded linsang, not even the female’s gestation period or mating cycles,” said zoo director Dr Kevin Lazarus.
“We missed the mating, otherwise we could have gauged the gestation period. Eventually, we hope to get more information on the banded linsang and publish our own findings,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

Reference books say the linsang is a carnivorous mammal of the family viveridae, a forest dweller which builds nests from leaves. There are three species – the South-East Asian Oriental linsang, the spotted linsang and the African linsang or oyan.

Considered the rarest of the civet family, the totally protected banded linsang is native only to the rainforests of Malaysia, Thailand and parts of Indonesia.