Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3.12 Forest elephants tend to be smaller than the African elephant of the savan-
nas. Taken in the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in Central African Republic.
(Photo
courtesy of Brian L. Fisher, California Academy of Sciences.)
terrestrial. The rare water civet is found only within the DRC. It feeds primarily on
fish. The palm civet is more cat like in appearance than the other civets and is
mainly arboreal, hunting at night for invertebrates and small vertebrates. Mongoo-
ses are small brown or gray carnivores with small heads, pointed snouts, and short,
rounded ears. Mongooses feed on a wide range of animals, including small mam-
mals, birds, reptiles, eggs, crabs, and a variety of insects. Some species also include
tubers, fruits, and berries in their diet. The Gambian mongoose is an endangered
species restricted to southern Senegal and Nigeria.
The fossa, a unique member of the mongoose family, only occurs in Madagas-
car. It is the largest carnivore on the island and considered a ''living fossil'' because
its continued survival is thought possible only because of the island's isolation and
lack of competing carnivores. The fossa looks somewhat like a cat with a slender
body, short legs, long tail, and reddish-brown fur. It lives in rainforests as well as
dry forests and hunts on the ground and in the trees, taking birds, eggs, lemurs,
rodents, and invertebrates.
Several medium to large cats live in the rainforest. The African golden cat is
found throughout the equatorial rainforests of Africa. About twice the size of a
domestic cat, the golden cat is rarely seen in the wild. They are primarily nocturnal
