Giclee reprint of an original lithograph from Dumont d’Urville’s Voyage au pole sud et dans l'Océanie sur les corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée published between 1842 and 1854 in Paris.

The work is one of the grandest and most historically significant scientific "Great Voyages" ever commissioned by the French crown. Undertaken between 1837 and 1840 under the command of the legendary explorer Captain Jules Dumont d'Urville and his second-in-command Charles Hector Jacquinot, this royal expedition sought to chart the uncharted antarctic polar circles and study the diverse cultures and ecosystems of Oceania.

Upon the ships' successful return to France, the government funded an exhaustive publishing project handled by the Parisian firm Gide. Spanning 13 years, the final work comprised 23 volumes of text and 7 massive, folio-sized visual atlases.

The scientific name Paradoxurus was coined by French zoologist Georges Cuvier. It literally translates to "paradoxical tail." When the first specimens arrived in Paris from expeditions to Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific, French naturalists were baffled. While the animal clearly belonged to the order Carnivora (possessing predatory teeth like a cat or mongoose), it had a remarkably long, muscular tail that it could curl completely into a tight, spiral scroll. At the time, scientists mistakenly believed this tail was prehensile, a trait typically restricted to New World monkeys and marsupials like cuscuses.

While they are technically classified as carnivores, Palm Civits are highly opportunistic frugivores. They seek out the sweetest, ripest wild fruits—including coffee cherries. Today, the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) is famous (and controversially managed) for its role in producing Kopi Luwak, a luxury coffee made from beans that have passed through the civet's digestive tract.