The Sunda stink badger (Mydaus javanensis), also called the Javan stink badger, teledu, Malay stink badger, Malay badger, Indonesian stink badger and Sunda skunk, is a mammal native to Indonesia and Malaysia. Despite the common name, stink badgers are not closely related to true badgers, and are, instead, Old World relatives of the skunks.
|
|
Gervais' Histoire naturelle des mammifères Mydaus javanensis Stink badgers (Mydaus) are a genus of the skunk family of carnivorans, the Mephitidae. They resemble the better-known members of the family Mustelidae also termed 'badgers' (which are themselves a polyphyletic group). There are only two extant species – the Palawan stink badger or pantot (M. marchei), and the Sunda stink badger or teledu (M. javanensis).
|
|
Sunda stink badgers are omnivorous and highly nocturnal.Vickers SH, Evans MN, Abu Bakar MS, and Benoit Goossens B. (2017). The first recorded activity pattern for the Sunda stink-badger Mydaus javanensis (Mammalia: Carnivora: Mephitidae) using camera traps. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 65: 316–324.
|
|
The Palawan stink badger (Mydaus marchei), or pantot, is a carnivoran of the western Philippines named for its resemblance to badgers, its powerful smell, and the largest island to which it is native, Palawan. Like all stink badgers, the Palawan stink badger was once thought to share a more recent common ancestor with badgers than with skunks. Recent genetic evidence, however, has led to their re-classification as one of the Mephitidae, the skunk family of mammals. It is the size of a large skunk or small badger, and uses its badger- like body to dig by night for invertebrates in open areas near patches of brush.
|
|
Compared with its sister species, the Palawan stink badger is also slightly smaller, with larger teeth and longer fur. Females have six teats. Like all members of the mammalia class, the Palawan stink badgers are endothermic, wherein they use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Another interesting physical feature, is that they are bilaterally symmetric.
|
|
Although smaller than true badgers, the Palawan stink badger is one of the larger members of the skunk family, the Mephitidae. Adults measure in length, about the same size as the striped skunk native to North America, and weigh anything from . In physical appearance, however, they more closely resemble badgers than skunks. They have a pointed snout with a mobile nose, and a stocky body with short and powerful limbs bearing sharply recurved claws.
|
|
The buffy fish owl feeds foremost on fish, crabs, frogs, small reptiles and birds. It also forages on carrion. Stomach content found in Javan buffy fish owls included insects, winged ants and winged termites, goldfish (Carassius auratus), gold-ringed cat snake (Boiga dendrophila), immature false gharials (Tomistoma schlegelii), red junglefowl (Gallus gallus), black rat (Rattus rattus), and fruit bats. It has been recorded consuming remains of a crocodile and a Sunda stink badger (Mydaus javanensis).
|
|
Gunung Gede-Pangrango is inhabited by 251 of the 450 bird species found in Java. Among these are endangered species like the Javan hawk-eagle and the Javan scops owl. Among the endangered mammal species in the Park there are several primates such as the silvery gibbon, Javan surili and Javan lutung. Other mammals include Javan leopard, leopard cat, Indian muntjac, Java mouse- deer, Sumatran dhole, Malayan porcupine, Sunda stink badger, yellow-throated marten, and Bartels's rat.
|
|
They live only on the western islands of the Greater Sunda Islands: Sumatra, Java, Borneo in Indonesia and (in the case of the Palawan stink badger) on the Philippine island of Palawan; as well as many other smaller islands in the region. Stink badgers are named for their resemblance to other badgers and for the foul-smelling secretions that they expel from anal glands in self-defense (which is stronger in the Sunda species).Stink badgers at the Badger Pages Stink badgers were traditionally thought to be related to Eurasian badgers in the subfamily Melinae of the weasel family of carnivorans (the Mustelidae), but recent DNA analysis indicates they share a more recent common ancestor with skunks, so experts have now placed them in the skunk family (the Mephitidae, which is the sister group of a clade composed of Mustelidae and Procyonidae, with the red panda also assigned to one of the sister clades). The two existing species are different enough from each other for the Palawan stink badger to be sometimes classified in its own genus, Suillotaxus.
|
|
There are also some 30 mammal species that have been recorded.Madulid, 1998 Most often observed in the forest canopy and along the shoreline feeding during low tide is the long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis), the only primate found in the area. Other mammal species in the park are the Palawan bearded pig (Sus ahoenobarbus), bearcat (Arctictis binturong), Palawan stink badger (Mydaus marchei) and the Palawan porcupine (Hystrix pumila). 19 species of reptiles have been identified, eight of which are endemic.
|
|
The tail is very short in comparison to the body, measuring only , and lacking the bushy fur of many skunks. The ears are almost invisible, with only vestigial pinnae, and the eyes are also relatively small. The fur is dark brown to black over most of the body, fading to a more brownish colour on the underparts. There are also scattered white hairs across the back and over the forehead, but not the white stripe and head-patch found on the closely related Sunda stink badger.
|
|
The surrounding forested landscape consists of primarily dipterocarp trees such as narra, ipil, apitong, dao, kamagong and mancono. It is inhabited by several animal species unique to Palawan, including the Palawan binturong, Palawan pangolin, Palawan stink badger, Palawan treeshrew and Palawan porcupine. A number of endemic bird species are also found in the protected area like the Palawan peacock-pheasant, Palawan hornbill, Tabon scrubfowl, talking myna and Philippine cockatoo. Its forest also hosts the Philippine long-tailed macaque, Asian palm civet and the critically endangered Philippine forest turtle.
|
|