Order: Carnivora

Family: Herpestidae

 

Size: up to 70-90 cm in length (head to tail).

Weight: 0.9-2.0 kg

 

Key Features: It is a small, slender carnivore, with a long, bushy, tapering tail, short legs, and sharp, non-retractable claws. The snout is long and pointed, and the short, rounded ears barely protrude above the profile of the head. The coat is coarse and fairly long, and greyish to light brown in colour, with the individual hairs banded black and white, giving an overall grizzled appearance. The muzzle, cheeks, edges of the ears and feet have a rusty brown tinge. The male is slightly larger than the female.

 

Breeding: Births may occur in May to June and October to December; in central India, litters were seen during June and July. The female may give birth two or three times annually. Litter size is usually two to four pups, born after a gestation period of around 60 days.

 

Diet: feeds on a variety of prey, including insects, spiders, scorpions and other invertebrates, as well as frogs, lizards, rodents and snakes. It may also take vegetable matter such as fruit, and feeds on refuse and carrion. This species often kills and eats venomous snakes, being agile and quick enough to avoid being bitten.

 

Habitat: habitat preferences of this mongoose have not been well documented, but in India it has been recorded in disturbed areas, dry secondary forest and thorn forest, and is found near human settlements. It is also reported to occur in open areas, including scrub and cultivated land.

 

Habits: mongoose is mainly active during the day. The mongoose sniffs the ground and turns over rocks and stones in its search for prey. The mongoose closes its outer ear when hunting in soil to keep out dirt and water.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

Distribution in the GoK: reported along the coast of Gulf of Kachchh.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Macdonald, D.W. (2006) The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

 

Francis, C.M. (2008) A Field Guide to the Mammals of South-East Asia. New Holland Publishers, London.

 

Nowak, R.M. (1991) Walker’s Mammals of the World. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London.

 

Firouz, E. (2005) The Complete Fauna of Iran. I. B. Tauris Publishers, London.

 

Hellyer, P. and Aspinall, S. (2005) The Emirates: A Natural History. Trident Press Limited, London.

 

Gilchrist, J.S., Jennings, A.P., Veron, G. and Cavallini, P. (2009) Family Herpestidae. In: Wilson, D.E. and Mittermeier, R.A. (Eds.) Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 1: Carnivores. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

 

IUCN Red List. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/41611/0

 

Photo Courtesy

J.M.Garg, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons