Pardine genet

The pardine genet, also called the West African large-spotted genet, lives in West Africa from Senegal eastwards to Ghana, where the Volta River may limit its spread. It inhabits rainforest, gallery forest and moist woodland and also plantations, and it ventures into suburbs. Its yellowish grey fur carries round black spots that are bigger on the hind legs than on the shoulders, the head is reddish with a brownish muzzle, and the tail has six to seven narrow white and six to seven broader black rings and a black tip. Adult males measure 410 to 553 millimetres in head and body length. It is solitary, active at night and adept at climbing trees. It was once treated as the same species as the rusty-spotted and Cape genets, but all three are now recognised as distinct. It is widely distributed and common, and listed as Least Concern.