See text A genet (pronounced /ˈdʒɛnɪt/ or /dʒəˈnɛt/) is a member of the genus Genetta, which consists of 17 species of small African carnivorans.

The following were proposed as valid in 2005:[1] Genetta and Poiana are estimated to have diverged about 9.5 to 13.3 million years ago.

[43] All genet species have a dark stripe along the spine; they differ in fur color and spot pattern.

[1] It was brought from the Maghreb to Spain as a semi-domestic animal about 1000 to 1500 years ago, and from there spread to southern France and Italy.

[46] The Cape genet is endemic to fynbos, grassland and coastal forests in South Africa.

[48] The pardine genet lives in primary and secondary rainforests, gallery forests, moist woodlands, but also in plantations and suburban areas ranging from Senegal to the Volta River in Ghana.

[50] The King genet is restricted to rainforest in the Congo Basin, Bioko Island, Ghana and Liberia.

[52] The giant forest genet lives in rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Uganda.

[1] G. letabae has been recorded in woodland savannah in Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.

[55] The crested servaline genet is endemic to Nigeria and Cameroon, where it inhabits scrub and primary deciduous forests.

[56] Schouteden's genet inhabits rainforest, woodland savannah and savannah-forest mosaic in tropical Africa.

[44] They are omnivorous and opportunistically catch invertebrates and small vertebrates, but also feed on plants and fruit.

[57] In 2014, a camera trap in the Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park captured a large spotted genet riding on the back of two different buffalo and a rhinoceros.

[77] As enforced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), keeping a genet as a pet is prohibited across all states in the US.