Viverrids are native to Africa (except the
area immediately south of the Mediterranean), Madagascar, the Iberian
Peninsula, southern China, South and Southeast Asia. Favoured habitats
include woodland, savanna, and mountain biomes and,
above all, tropical rainforest. In consequence, many are
faced with severe loss of habitat; several species are considered vulnerable
and the Otter Civet is classified as endangered. Some species of civet are very
rare and elusive and hardly anything is known about them, e.g., the Hose's Civet, endemic to
the montane forests of northern Borneo, is one of
the world's least known carnivores.
In Sri Lanka,
the Asian palm civet species is known as
"Uguduwa" by the Sinhala speaking community. The
terms Uguduwa and Kalawedda are used interchangeably by the
Sri Lankan community to refer to the same animal. However, the term Kalawedda
is mostly used to refer to another species in the civet family, the Small Indian Civet. Sri Lanka also has an
endemic civet species called Golden
Palm Civet. In Bangladesh and in Bangla speaking areas of India this animal
is known as "Khatash" and is now extremely rare in all parts of
Bangladesh.
