South African mongoose. Economic value to humans: Negative

South African or gray mongoose is a predatory mammal of the mongoose family, very common in certain areas South Africa. Latin name this predator is Galerella pulverulenta. English variants the names are Cape gray mongoose (long gray mongoose) and Small gray mongoose (small gray mongoose). Today, three subspecies of this mongoose are defined, which differ in size and coat color.

Habitat. These animals live in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, the northern provinces of South Africa and southern Angola. Settled in almost any territory of these regions. They can live in forests, bush and even semi-deserts. well tolerated as humid climate, and dry. The most preferred territory for the gray mongoose to settle are river banks and mountain slopes, overgrown with dense shrubs. Avoids open areas.

Description. The body of the South African mongoose is elongated, with short legs. The head is somewhat elongated with a pointed elongated muzzle. The ears are round, small and set low. The tail is long and fluffy.

The coat is gray or dark gray, sometimes with longitudinal dark streaks. The tip of the tail and the bottom of the paws are darker than the rest of the body. Animals living in areas with sufficient moisture have lighter coats than those living in dry areas.

The body length of the animal can reach 70 cm, the length of the tail is up to 35 cm, the weight of an adult male is up to one kilogram. Males are noticeably larger than females, whose weight does not exceed 650 g.

Food. The main diet of the South African mongoose is made up of insects and arachnids, as well as small rodents. Occasionally, this predator can attack birds, reptiles and amphibians. In the complete absence of food, it can feed on carrion, fallen plaids and seeds of cereals.

During the hunt, the gray mongoose lies in wait for prey in ambush, and kills the victim by making a throw and biting through the neck in the head area. It catches insects with its paws and eats them, bringing them to the mouth. As a diurnal animal, it completely stops hunting after sunset.

social behavior. This type of mongoose is a solitary animal. The territory occupied by one individual can reach sixty hectares, while males have larger plots than females. Territory of neighboring plots, with high density resettlement of animals can overlap by 20-30%. When two people meet aggressive behavior not visible.

The mating season is June-July. During this time, South African mongooses live and hunt in pairs. Bearing offspring lasts two months. By the time the offspring appears, the male leaves for his territory.

For the birth of babies, the female arranges a den in natural shelters. A typical litter is one to three blind and deaf kittens. Young mongooses become completely independent after four months, after which they leave the lair.

area: gray mongoose - endemic to southern and South West Africa(Lesotho, Namibia).

Description: the body is elongated, like most other mongooses, with short legs. The ears are small, rounded, low-set. The head is elongated with a pointed muzzle. Upper lip with a hairless depression. Dental formula: I 3/3, C 1/1, P 3/4, M 2/2, 38 teeth in total. Males are slightly larger than females. The tail is long and fluffy.
The paws have five toes with short, curved claws.

Color: The coat is dark gray with dark streaks. In individuals living in arid regions, the body color is brownish. Bottom part the body is sometimes lighter and less variegated than the top. The tip of the tail and paws are darker than the main background of the body.

The size: body with tail 55-69 cm, tail about 30 cm.

The weight: adult males up to 900-1000 g, females 500-680 g.

Lifespan: unknown in nature (presumably up to 8-9 years). In captivity, one mongoose lived to be 11.7 years old.

Habitat: the South African mongoose is tolerant of various environments habitats range from dry herbaceous-shrub associations of rocky slopes to forested areas. Avoids open savannas. Often settles in the suburbs, next to a person (under the floorboards of sheds, barns and other outbuildings).

Enemies: predator birds (Elanus caeruleus and Milvus migrans), snakes, leopards and caracals.

Food: carnivorous species - feeds mainly on insects and arachnids (4-9%), as well as small rodents (mainly Otomys unisulcatus and Rhabdomys pumilio- up to 90%). Occasionally attacks birds (up to 5%), reptiles, amphibians, eats eggs of birds and reptiles. Cases of feeding on carrion, fruits and seeds of cereals have been registered.

Behavior: leads a daytime terrestrial lifestyle.
Gray mongoose hunt big booty like cats, it lies in wait in ambush, and then makes a throw and bites the victim in the head area. It catches insects on the ground, brings them to the mouth with its front paws and eats them.
Usually mongooses adhere to dense thickets of shrubs, but in their absence they rest (during the hottest hours of the day) in any convenient place - natural cracks, heaps of stones, abandoned burrows, hollow tree trunks, etc. Animals try to disperse excrement throughout the site .
Sometimes - when threatened - they climb trees.
At dusk (from 19:00 to 20:45) activity stops and resumes after 08:00 in the morning.
They move quickly on the ground, keeping their tail near the ground.

social structure: usually live alone, but sometimes found in pairs or with grown cubs. The area of ​​an individual plot is 21-63 ha (males have larger plots than females). The plots partially (by 25-44%) overlap with each other. When meeting in a common area between animals, no aggression occurs, which indicates a high intraspecific tolerance.

reproduction: The babies are born in a den located under rocks, in dense vegetation, rock crevices, or in hollow tree trunks.

Season/breeding period: The appearance of cubs is observed from August to December.

Pregnancy: lasts 50-61 days.

Offspring: the female gives birth to 1-3 cubs. At birth, puppies are completely covered in hair, but are blind and deaf. Eyes and ears open in the second week of life. Young mongooses remain in the den until they become completely independent - up to about 4 months.

Population/conservation status: Currently, the South African mongoose is widely distributed and is not threatened. The population density is approximately 10 mongooses per 1 m2.
In 1996, the species was listed on the IUCN Red List as a species of Least Concern.
There are currently three subspecies of the South African mongoose: Galerella pulverulenta basutius, G. p. pulverulenta, G. p. ruddy.
This species is sometimes included in the genus Galerella(e.g. Wozencraft 1993, 2005).

South African mongoose length from 55 to 69 cm, tail length from 20 to 34 cm, weight from 0.5 to 1 kg. Males are larger than females. In the northwest of their range, the animals are dark brown in color. Feet are dark brown or almost black. The tail is fluffy, when moving it is held horizontally above the ground.

Spreading

Animals live in Cape Province, on South free state, in the north Lesotho, along dragon mountains in the West KwaZulu-Natal as well as in the south and north Namibia and in the southwest Angola. In the Cape Province, it is the most common solitary predator.

The South African mongoose lives in the forests, Bush and semi-deserts, in regions with high and low rainfall. The animal is especially common in fynboshe, along the banks of rivers overgrown with shrubs and on densely overgrown mountain slopes.

Lifestyle

The South African mongoose is active during the day, leads a solitary lifestyle. Both sexes mark stones and bushes. These are carnivorous animals that navigate in search of food with the help of eyes and smell. Their prey is small rodents, primarily African swamp hamsters ( Otomys) and striped field mice (Rhabdomys). In addition, insects also become their prey.

When threatened, mongooses make a short, ringing growl and a sneeze or purr when grabbed. The breeding season is from August to December. There are one to three cubs in a litter. The brood is born under bushes or in the burrows of other animals. The gestation period of the animals is unknown, as is their age of sexual maturity and lifespan.

Mongoose(from the Latin Herpestes) is a mammal from the order of predators of the mongoose family.

This family was isolated from the viverrid family due to some differences in animal mongooses, such as rounded ears, odorous anal glands, and others.

It has a medium-sized slender oblong body from 20 to 75 centimeters, a small head with an elongated muzzle and small ears, quite a long tail reaching body length and four short limbs with non-retractable claws.

The color of these mammals is predominantly monotonous gray and brown. Some species have stripes and ring patterns on the tail.

One of animals outwardly very like a mongoose is . The habitat of mongooses is south, Asia and Africa.

The mongoose family is very extensive and contains 35 species, which are grouped into 14 genera:

water mongooses;

Black-legged mongoose(furry-tailed, black-footed and Jackson's mongoose);
Kuzimanza (Zairian, Angolan, long-nosed, flat-headed kuzimanza);

Long-nosed Cuzimanza feeds on small ground insects raking the earth and foliage with his nose

yellow mongoose;

Dybowski's mongoose;
African mongooses(South African mongoose, slender mongoose, rufous and buffy mongoose);
dwarf mongoose(tiny and pygmy mongooses);
genus Mongoose (small, short-tailed, ordinary, brown, Egyptian, Javanese, long-nosed, collared, Indian, striped-necked and crabeater mongoose);

Mongoose crabeater or urva has a larger physique, feeds on small animals, mainly aquatic

White-tailed mongooses;
Liberian mongoose;
striped mongooses(striped and Gambian);

gray mongoose;

From most of the names of genera and species themselves, one can understand the differences between animals from each other. Also, you can easily look at all these differences between animals by studying photo of mongoose.

Character and lifestyle

The mongoose is not a solitary animal, it usually lives in groups of up to 40-50 individuals. Leads both daytime and night image ground life.

For safety and reproduction, they dig underground holes for themselves or settle in someone abandoned. Some species live in tree roots, and sometimes even in low hollows.

These mammals mainly hunt in a flock, telling each other about the location of the victim with peculiar sounds resembling a whistle. Often, when hunting, in order to find prey, mongooses stand on their hind legs and look out for their game in the vicinity.

The fame of mongooses among general population Our planet was brought by the writer Joseph Rudyard Kipling, writing a fairy tale about the winner of a cobra mongoose named Rikki-tikki-tavi based on which in the Soviet Union in 1965 a cartoon of the same name was released cartoon.

The agility and maneuverability of the mongooses inspired our armed forces to name the 12150 Mongoose series high-speed boats, which have been produced since 2000, in their honor. The Italian military also decided to keep up with ours and in 2007 they invented and began to produce for the Turkish army attack helicopters under the name "Agusta A129 "Mongoose".

Many people know about the existence of mongooses since childhood thanks to the cartoon Rikki Tikki Tavi.

Mongoose food

Most of the waking time of the mongoose is in the hunt for food. His world-famous agility and speed allows him to hunt even nimble and fast small vertebrate mammals, such as , rats, small birds and even invertebrates, including poisonous ones.

In addition, the diet of these animals includes insects and larvae. Separate mongoose species living near water bodies eat crustaceans such as crabs and molluscs.

Some species are omnivorous and animal food plants, fruits, berries, nuts and various seeds are consumed. There are interesting observations about how mongooses crack nuts- taking a nut with its forelimbs, the animal stands on its hind legs, lifts the nut above itself and throws it on the ground, thereby breaking the shell.

Due to their unusual nature in the form of poisonous hunting, these mammals are very fond of and very often start mongooses as pets. Moreover, the animal perfectly takes root and gets used to home conditions and is rather unpretentious to homemade food.

Some entrepreneurs in this country specifically breed these mammals and, in the market, anyone can buy animal mongoose to your house. For the local population mongoose value not so great in money as in a kind of guard of a human dwelling from various kinds of snakes.

Reproduction and lifespan

Sexual maturity of mongooses is reached by the year of life. They do not have a specific mating period, depending on the species and habitat. mating periods mongoose pass in different seasons.

After mating, they bear offspring for 60 days, preparing their home for its appearance. The offspring of mongooses is from one to four cubs. After birth, they are blind and feed on their mother's milk for a month. They begin to move independently after 1.5-2 weeks.

The females of these animals are very caring mothers. Moreover, they often take care of both their children and the children of other females living in a pack. Before independent living mothers protect their cubs in everything, bring them food, teach them to hunt, make sure that they do not go far from the shelter.

Very often, not keeping track of your child, baby mongoose become food for others large predators. One of these animals who eat the mongoose are birds that, seeing the animal from afar, abruptly rush down, grabbing their prey with their claws and dragging them to their nest. They also like to eat mongooses and large feline predators.

Newborn mongoose cubs are looked after and taken care of by all the females of the flock.

The life expectancy of mongooses is not great and reaches an average of 6-8 years. At home and in zoos, these animals live a little longer, the longest lifespan known on this moment reaches the age of 12.