Otter civet
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Viverridae
Subfamily:	Hemigalinae
Genus:	Cynogale
Species:	C. bennettii
Binomial name
Cynogale bennettii J E Gray, 1837
Otter civet range

Skull and dentition, as illustrated in Gervais' Histoire naturelle des mammifères

The otter civet, Cynogale bennettii, is a semi-aquatic civet found in forests, primarily lowland, near rivers and swampy areas of the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo. An additional population, only known from single specimen, occurs in northern Vietnam (with likely – but unconfirmed – records from adjacent parts of Thailand and Yunnan, China). The latter population has sometimes been considered a separate species, the Lowe's otter civet (C. lowei), in which case the common name of C. bennettii has been modified to the Sunda otter civet (a reference to its then entirely Sundaic distribution).

The otter civet possesses several adaptations to its habitat, including a broad mouth and webbed feet with naked soles and long claws. Its muzzle is long with numerous long whiskers.

The otter civet is a nocturnal species that obtains most of its food from the water, feeding on fish, crabs, freshwater mollusks, as well as being able to climb to feed on birds and fruit. Given its rarity and secretive nature it is a very poorly known species. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN. It is in many ways similar to another rare and elusive civet, the Hose's civet Diplogale hosei an endemic to the highlands of northern Borneo; the otter civet, however, has a shorter tail and does not have the whitish underparts as the Hose's civet.

A research collaboration between the Sabah Forestry Department and the German wildlife research institute, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, announced on 9th February, 2011,^[1] that they had photographed a specimen in the Deramakot Forest Reserve using remote camera traps.

Notes[link]

References[link]

Wikispecies has information related to: Cynogale bennettii

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cynogale bennettii

• Duckworth, J.W., Sebastian, T., Jennings, A. & Veron, G. (2008). Cynogale bennettii. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 12 December 2008. Listed as Endangered (EN A2ce, v3.1)
• Kanchanasakha, Budsabong. (1998). Carnivores of Mainland South East Asia. WWF, Bangkok. ISBN 974-89438-2-8

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Armand Denis (2 December 1896 – 15 April 1971) was a Belgian-born documentary film-maker. After several decades of pioneering work in filming and presenting the ethnology and wildlife of remote parts of Africa and Asia, he became best known in Britain as the director and co-presenter of natural history programmes on television in the 1950s and 1960s, with his second wife Michaela.

Life[link]

Childhood and early career as a scientist and inventor[link]

He was born in Brussels, Belgium^[1] (though the family moved to Antwerp soon after his birth), the son of a judge, and developed an interest in travel and the natural world as a child. He fought in the First World War before escaping to England, where he read chemistry at Oxford University.^[2] He worked at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough on lubricating oils, and then in Belgium on coke oven technology, before moving to the USA.^[3] There, in 1926, he invented a system of automatic volume control for radio, and the royalties he received allowed him to indulge his love of travel and movie-making.^[4]

First success as a film-maker[link]

Original poster for Wild Cargo

After moving to Hollywood he worked as a cameraman, and began film-making with André Roosevelt, a first cousin once-removed of Theodore Roosevelt. In 1928, Denis and Roosevelt traveled to Bali to make Goona Goona (also known as The Kriss), a compilation of authentic expedition footage with a dramatic plotline involving a romance between a Balinese prince and a servant girl. The movie was first released in 1930 and in a version called Love Powder, edited to conform to American censorship restrictions, in 1932. It started a craze for all things Balinese, and "Goona-goona", originally a Javanese term for love magic, became a slang expression for "sexually exciting".^[5][6] The film’s success brought Denis to the attention of the cinema industry, and in 1934 he directed Wild Cargo, starring adventurer and animal collector Frank Buck.^[7][8]

Work with Leila Roosevelt Denis[link]

Denis married André Roosevelt’s daughter Leila; they went on to have four children (Rene, David, Armand & Heidi Ann). In 1934-35, sponsored by the Belgian government, the couple travelled to the (then) Belgian Congo with the cinematographer Leroy G. Phelps, to record sound film material suitable for use in African movies. They recorded a wide variety of footage, including the first film of the music and dances of the Mangbetu and Tutsi (Watusi) peoples. The soundtracks were released as commercial recordings, and the movie material, from the Congo and the Sahara, was edited for release as Wheels Across Africa in 1936.

Armand and Leila continued to work together on short documentaries through the late 1930s, and in 1944 put together the movie Dangerous Journey covering their travels in Africa, India and Burma.^[9]

Armand and Michaela[link]

However, in 1948, Armand Denis met British dress designer Michaela Holdsworth in New York. They began an affair and, after he and Leila divorced, Armand and Michaela married in Bolivia.^[10]

In order to finance their independent work, the couple travelled to Africa in 1950 to work on the feature film, King Solomon's Mines, in which Michaela acted as Deborah Kerr's double. In 1953 they made a new film together, Below The Sahara, and appeared on BBC radio to promote it. The BBC saw the couple's potential for television work, and in 1954 they produced a successful TV programme, Filming Wild Animals.

The quality of Armand Denis' film-making, combined with his heavy accent and Michaela's enthusiasm and glamorous appeal, made them fixtures on BBC TV screens during the 1950s and early 1960s, revolutionising wildlife documentaries on television. They made several series for both BBC and ITV, including Filming In Africa (1955), Armand and Michaela Denis (1955–58), On Safari (1957–59), and Safari to Asia (1959–61), which were repeated until well into the 1960s.^[2] Their early collaborations relied on the couple travelling alone in a Land Rover with technical equipment, presenting material in a style that was much parodied, but in later series it became clear that they used a team of cameramen.^[11]

In January 1963, Armand Denis was the first editor of Animals magazine, which later became BBC Wildlife.^[12]

Later life[link]

The couple made their home in Nairobi, Kenya. Armand Denis published an autobiography, On Safari: the story of my life in 1963. He died from Parkinson's disease in 1971.^[10]

Filmography[link]

1930 Goona Goona (also known as The Kriss) (with André Roosevelt)

1934 Wild Cargo (Frank Buck’s second movie)

With Leila Roosevelt Denis[link]

1936 Wheels Across Africa

1937 Wheels Across India

1938 Magie Africaine (also known as Dark Rapture)

1941 Bring 'Em Back Alive

1941 Jungle Cavalcade (Frank Buck’s fourth movie)

1944 Dangerous Journey

1949 Savage Splendor

With Michaela Denis[link]

1953 Below The Sahara

1954 Armand and Michaela Denis Under The Southern Cross

1955 Armand and Michaela Denis Among The Headhunters

1955 Armand and Michaela Denis On The Barrier Reef

Bibliography[link]

• Taboo, Berkley Books, 1966

References[link]