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Carnivora (dogs, cats, mongooses, hyaenas, otters,
badgers, weasels, polecats, walrus, seals, raccoons, bears, genets, civets)
Life
>
Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta >
Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia >
Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) >
Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost
fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia
(terrestrial vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Synapsida (mammal-like reptiles) > Therapsida > Theriodontia
> Cynodontia > Mammalia (mammals)
> Placentalia (placental mammals) > Laurasiatheria
> Ferungulata > Ferae
Families indigenous or naturalised in southern Africa
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Family:
Canidae
(dogs, jackals)
Africa,
Eurasia, North and Central America. |
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Family:
Felidae
(cats, lion, tiger,
leopard, etc.)
Americas, Eurasia, Africa. |
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Family:
Herpestidae (mongooses)
Africa, S.
Asia. |
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Family:
Hyaenidae (hyaenas)
Africa, SW
Asia. |
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Family:
Mustelidae (otters, badgers,
weasils and polecats)
Americas, Eurasia, Africa. |
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Family: Nandiniidae (African palm civet)
One species: Nandinia
binotata (African palm civet). |
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Family:
Otariidae
(eared seals, sealions)
Southern Hemisphere, North Pacific. |
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Family:
Phocidae
(earless seals)
Polar,
temperate, some tropical seas. |
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Family:
Ursidae (bears, including Lesser
Panda Ailurus fulgens)
Eurasia, North and South America. However, 5 million
years ago there was a bear called Agriotherium africanum living
in Africa and fossils of its bones have been found at Langebaanweg in
what is now the West Coast Fossil Park. |
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Family:
Viverridae (genets and civets)
S.
Asia, Africa, Madagascar. |
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Families not
indigenous to southern Africa: Odobenidae (Walrus Odobenus
rosmarus - Arctic Ocean), Procyonidae (raccoons - South, Central
and North America).
Domesticated carnivores
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Domestic cats originate from the Wild Cat
Felis sylvestris, most likely from the African subspecies Felis
sylvestris lybica. |
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