African Genet Babies

While still in the Peace Corps, I was on the road for six months doing research on monkeypox. During that time, I was given two genet babies, which I raised on powdered milk dripped from a plastic pipette. These babies were a pleasure to raise, although they had a peculiar musky odor.

Genets are in the carnivorous family called "vivirid", which includes mongooses, genets, and civets. They weigh around two pounds and are mostly nocturnal, although they will forage during the day. One unusual thing about genets is that they are omnivorous, having evolved to take fruit opportunistically in game-poor forests. My genets showed a preference for ripe banana over meat.

Locally common, genets will raid village hen houses to take chickens. Hand-reared genets become imprinted on humans and are almost cat-like in their behavior. They have an unusual "chuff" which I learned to imitate in the back of my throat. This guttural sound would always bring a chuff response from my genet kittens, even when they became adults.

Photo by D. Messinger