Despite a high diversity of small carnivores in Africa, little is known about their ecology and their role as primary and secondary consumers. This is partly due to our general focus on what I like to call the ‘hairies and scaries’ – those large and charismatic animals that possess features such as tusks, horns, or very large teeth! We often overlook the smaller, and often nocturnal, predators which also play a crucial rule in ecosystem functioning.
In this article, I would like to focus on one group of these small carnivores, in particular, the genets. Members of the genus Genetta (Cuvier, 1816), genets are small, spotted carnivores with wide faces and bushy tails belonging to the family Viverridae. Within southern Africa, there are three species: the South African Large-spotted genet…
