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A civet () is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. The term civet applies to over a dozen different species, mostly from the family Viverridae. Most of the species's diversity is found in southeast Asia. Civets do not form a monophyletic group, as they consist only of certain members of the Viverridae and Eupleridae.
The African civet, Civettictis civetta, has historically been the main species from which a scent used in perfumery, also referred to as "civet", was obtained.
The African palm civet ( Nandinia binotata) is genetically distinct and belongs in its own monotypic family, Nandiniidae.
The Malagasy civet ( Fossa fossana) belongs to a separate family Eupleridae, with other carnivorans of Madagascar. The Malagasy civet was to be placed in the subfamily Hemigalinae with the banded palm civets and then in its own subfamily, Fossinae, because of similarities with others in the group pointed out by Gregory, but it is now classified as a member of the subfamily Euplerinae, after Pocock pointed out more similarities with that one.
Civets are also called toddy cats in English, marapaṭṭi (മരപട്ടി) in Malayalam, musang in Malay, Filipino, and Indonesian, and urulǣvā (උරුලෑවා) in Sinhala language. There can be confusion among speakers of Malay because the indigenous word musang has been mistakenly applied to by printed media instead of rubah, which is the correct but lesser-known term.
A minority of writers use civet to refer only to Civettictis, Viverra and Viverricula civets. However, in more common usage in English, the name also covers the civets of the viverrid genera Chrotogale, Cynogale, Diplogale, Hemigalus, Arctogalidia, Macrogalidia, Paguma and Paradoxurus.
Sri Lanka also has an endemic civet species called golden palm civet. Recently this species was split into three separate endemic species as Paradoxurus montanus, P. aureus, and P. stenocephalus. In Bangladesh and Bengali language-speaking areas of India, civets are known as "khatash" () for the smaller species and "bagdash" () for the larger ones and is now extremely rare in Bangladesh (in the Khulna Division area of the country, the animal is also known as "shairel"). In Assamese this animal is known as "zohamola" () which literally means "to have Joha rice aromatic feces". In Maharashtra Marathi language-speaking areas of India, civets are known as "Udmanjar" ().
In Kerala, the Malayalam speaking areas of India, the small Indian civet ( Viverricula indica) is called "veruk" (വെരുക്). In adjoining coastal regions of Karnataka it is called 'beru'/ಬೆರು in kannada as also Tulu. 'Veruku' (வெருகு) in Tamil meant 'cat', particularly during the Sangam period (~ 100 BCE to 400 CE).
The civet produces a musk (named civet after the animal) which is highly valued as a fragrance and stabilizing agent for perfume. Both male and female civets produce the strong-smelling secretion, which is produced by the civet's perineum glands. It is harvested by either killing the animal and removing the glands, or by scraping the secretions from the glands of a live animal. The latter is the preferred method today.
Animal rights groups, such as World Animal Protection, express concern that harvesting musk is cruel to animals. Between these ethical concerns and the availability of synthetic substitutes, the practice of raising civets for musk is dying out. Chanel, maker of the popular perfume Chanel No. 5, claims that natural civet has been replaced with a synthetic substitute since 1998. The Straight Dope: Does civet come from tortured cats? Does kopi luwak coffee come from pre-eaten beans?
The civets digest the flesh of the coffee cherries but pass the beans inside, where stomach enzymes affect the beans. This adds to the coffee's prized aroma and flavor. About can cost up to $600 in some parts of the world and about $100 a cup in others.
This demand has led to civet farms on which the civets are fed a diet composed almost exclusively of such cherries, causing them to become severely malnourished. Farm conditions are also routinely described as deplorable. Filipino and Vietnamese oversight of these farms is nonexistent.
African civets ( Civettictis civetta) are listed as Least Concern. However, in certain regions of Africa, the population is declining; this is due to hunting, direct and indirect poisoning, and an increase in large-scale farm fences that limit population flow. They are also seen as comparatively abundant options in the bushmeat trade.
Masked palm civets sold for meat in local markets of Yunnan China, carried the SARS virus from to humans; this resulted in the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak.
Civets are also raised in captivity by humans for two reasons. In Asia, they are raised to process coffee beans. In Ethiopia, they are raised in captivity to collect their perineum secretions, also called civet, to be used in making perfume.
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