The large-spotted Genet is a nocturnal species sometimes seen on game drive or at the KwaMbili hide. They are usually shy animals but in some cases where there is ongoing contact with humans they do become comfortable with our presence. The large-spotted Genet appears to be a solitary animal – the only social groups likely to be seen are females with young or a mating pair (which is brief as they soon go their separate ways). Their diet consists of rodents and other small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects and fruit. They can be confused with the small-spotted Genet but one can distinguish them by the size of the spots or blotches on the coat – the large-spotted Genet having larger spots then the small-spotted Genet. The small-spotted Genet also has more of a whitish-grey to silver fur colour while the large spotted Genet has more of a light brown to greyish-tan colour and the small-spotted Genet has a whitish tip to its tail while the large spotted Genet has more of a blackish tip. The small-spotted Genet prefers drier, rockier areas so is not really seen in our area while the large-spotted Genet prefers denser woodland and is thus more common in our area.
