Hitchhiking Genets

Genets are small cat-like carnivores with quick reflexes and exceptional climbing skills. Conservationists were surprised when they reviewed photos snapped by a camera trap showing hitchhiking behavior never seen in the mammal before. The genet was captured on film riding around on the back of both a rhino and buffalo in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park.







Why was the genet behaving this way? Was it hunting insects or feeding on parasites off the backs of these large animals?  Perhaps it feels this is a relatively safe, mobile vantage spot? In this article small carnivore expert Adam Ferguson from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History explains this strange new behaviour.


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