Classification
Domain: Eukarya (Cells contain a nucleus and
organelles)
Kingdom: Animalia (Multicellular and digestive of food)
Phylum: Chordata (Notochord, hollow dorsal nerve chord,
pharyngeal slits, and endostyle)
Class: Mammalia (Most give live-birth, all have hair)
Order: Carnivora (Get nutrition from eating meat)
Family: Viverridae (Four or five toes on each foot and
semi-retractile claws)
Genus: Civettictis
Species: Civettictis civetta
Civettictis is derived
from the French word "civette" and the Greek word "ictis",
which means 'weasel'. Civette is from an Arabic word which
describes a scent that comes from the perineal glands. It's name
could be interpreted as "smelly weasel".
Figure 1: Civets, top right corner of the phylogenetic tree, are
carnivores.
Figure 2:
As you can see from the phylogenetic tree, the civets are
closely related with another small carnivore, the mongoose.