Small cat with short legs, pointed snout and ringed tail. The muzzle
is pointed and the ears are rounded. No two animals are exactly
alike. Two to four young are born during the summer months, usually
in the mother's daytime shelter.
Genets are often seen at night in the wilds. The small-spotted
genet has habits similar to the large-spotted genet: it is nocturnal,
scales trees, uses tree-holes, undergrowth or disused burrows
as shelter in the day, and eats insects, mice and rats, geckos,
frogs, snakes and scorpions. It stalks its prey like a cat.
In defence it will arch its back and the hair down the spine
will bristle, while also emitting an unpleasant odour from a secretion
in its anal glands. Genets return to the same place day after
day, hunting mostly on the ground. They spit and growl like cats
when they are angry or threatened. Their normal call is a clear
metallic note
Genets were kept as pets by the ancient Egyptians, the genet
was kept as a rat catcher The domestic cat eventually replaced
the genet, probably because it is more efficient at killing rats-and
perhaps because it is less smelly
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