Mongoose with South African registration crossword puzzle. South African mongoose (Galerella pulverulenta) Engl. Cape gray mongoose, Small gray mongoose. Economic value to humans: Positive
South African or gray mongoose is a predatory mammal of the mongoose family, very common in certain areas of South Africa. The Latin name for this predator is Galerella pulverulenta. English variants of the name 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. They tolerate both wet and dry climates well. 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.
Nutrition. 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. The territory of neighboring sites, with a high density of settlement of animals, can overlap by 20-30%. When two individuals meet, aggressive behavior is not observed.
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.
Distributed in Southwestern Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
Body length is 250-350 mm, tail - 175-250 mm.
Meerkats live in arid areas, almost devoid of trees, on rocky or other hard ground. They are active burrowing animals. Meerkat colonies burrow or use the abandoned burrows of the African ground squirrel. If they live in a mountainous region, then rocky caves serve as shelters for them. They lead a daily life. On a warm day, they like to bask in the sun, taking the most bizarre poses. They can stand on their hind legs for a long time. They often change homes, and new housing is often 1-2 km from the old one.
Meerkats are highly organized animals that unite in colonies, including two or three family groups, in total 20-30 individuals. Clans of meerkats feud among themselves for territory. On the "borders" often there are battles. Some of them end badly for at least one meerkat. If one family takes over another's burrow, the cubs in it will be killed. Each family consists of a pair of adults and their offspring. Matriarchy reigns in the meerkat group. The female may be larger than the male in size and dominates him. Meerkats often talk to each other, their sound range has at least ten sound combinations.
They feed near their burrow, turning over rocks and digging cracks in the ground. In most cases, meerkats eat insects, but the diet is also supplemented by lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders, centipedes - both bipedal and labiopods, small vertebrates, eggs, and various parts of vegetation. Rarely small birds. Meerkats are immune to certain poisons; they are resistant to scorpion venom.
Meerkats reach sexual maturity at the age of one year. The female can bring up to four litters per year. Mating occurs in September-October, offspring are born in November-December. Pregnancy lasts 77 days or less. There are 2-5 cubs in a litter, usually four. A newborn weighs 25-36 g, he opens his eyes on the 10-14th day, and he is breastfed for 7-9 weeks. Cubs can come out of the hole into the light only when they are three weeks old. In families of wild meerkats, only the dominant female has the right to bear offspring. If any other female has become pregnant or has already brought offspring, the dominant female can expel the “guilty” from the family, often she even kills the cubs.
water mongoose
Water Mongoose
(Atilax paludinosus)
Distributed from the Republic of South Africa to Ethiopia in the northeast and Sierra Leone in the northwest, with the exception of desert and semi-desert areas. Found from sea level to 2500 meters.
Body length 45-60 cm, tail length 30-40 cm, body weight - from 2.5 to 4.1 kg.
Prefers the shores of various freshwater reservoirs, often estuaries, limited by a large amount of dense vegetation. It is active mainly at night and twilight, although vigorous activity was sometimes observed during the day. An excellent swimmer, however, he prefers to keep his head above the water level, and often leans on patches of grass and floating vegetation while swimming. The territory of each mongoose is clearly separated, and usually the border runs along the water of the reservoirs near which they live.
The water mongoose is an omnivore, predominantly a carnivore, and feeds on anything it can catch and kill. The basis of the diet is freshwater crabs, shrimps, shellfish (mussels and snails); fish, frogs, snakes, birds and their eggs, small rodents, large insects and their larvae, centipedes are less important in nutrition.
They breed twice a year: in the middle of the dry season and during the rainy season. The female gives birth to cubs in a nest of dry grass, which settles in the hollows of trunks, among tree roots, all kinds of cracks, holes, natural caves, or in the absence of natural shelters, especially in swampy habitats, simply in a nest among reeds, grass and sticks.
Babies (from 1 to 3, more often 2) are born blind and helpless, weighing about 100 g, and only 9-14 days after birth, their eyes and ears open. The female feeds milk for at least a month, after which they gradually switch to solid food, and finally stop eating milk between 30 - 45 days and later. Adolescents for some period after weaning may accompany the female during her hunting trips.
Furry-tailed mongoose
Bushy-tailed Mongoose
(Bdeogale crassicauda)
Distributed in Central Africa, from South Kenya to Central Mozambique.
Body length - 40-50 cm, tail - 20-30 cm.
Inhabits lowland forests and savannahs with dense vegetation.
Mongoose Jackson
Jackson's Mongoose
(Bdeogale jacksoni)
Inhabits mountain forests and bamboo thickets of southwestern Kenya and northern Tanzania.
Body length - 52-57 cm, tail - 27-36 cm. Body weight is 2-3 kg.
Leads a solitary life, but sometimes there are couples.
It feeds mainly on insects, but also eats small vertebrates and carrion.
The genus (Bdeogale) also includes the Black-footed Mongoose (Bdeogale nigripes), which lives in the tropical forests of Central Africa, from Southeast Nigeria to Northern Zaire (Congo) and Northern Angola.
long-nosed kuzimanzee
Long-nosed Cusimanse
(Crossarchus obscurus)
Distributed in Central and West Africa.
Body length about 33 cm, weight - 1 kg.
It lives in forests and wetlands. It can be active both during the day and at night. Travels in search of prey in packs, rarely staying in one place for more than two days, resting in any suitable place. In search of food, it turns over stones and fallen trees, digs holes. The diet includes a variety of foods: insects, caterpillars, small reptiles, crabs, fruits and berries.
The genus Kuzimanze (Crossarchus) also includes: Angola Kuzimanze (Crossarchus ansorgei), Kuzimanze Alexandra (Crossarchus alexandri), Flat-headed Kuzimanze (Crossarchus platycephalus).
yellow mongoose
Yellow Mongoose
(Cynictis penicillata)
It is found in southern Africa, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and southern Angola. Its preferred habitat is savannas and semi-deserts.
The body size is from 27 to 38 cm, the tail length is from 18 to 28 cm. The weight of adults ranges from 440 to 800 g.
Yellow mongooses are active during the day and spend the nights in their burrows. They dig well, but prefer to take over other people's holes, built as a rule by ground squirrels or striders. Sometimes they inhabit burrows together with ground squirrels. Yellow mongooses live in family groups of four to eight animals. They prey on rodents, birds and their eggs, but most of their food is insects.
Once or twice a year, after a 60-day pregnancy, females give birth to one to three cubs. After eight weeks, they wean from mother's milk, and upon reaching one year of age, they become sexually mature. Life expectancy in captivity reaches 15 years.
savannah mongoose
Pousargues's Mongoose
(Dologale dybowskii)
Distributed in the Central African Republic, in the northeast of Zaire, southern Sudan and western Uganda.
The length of the body together with the head is 250-330 mm, tail 160-230 mm.
It lives in forests of various types: evergreen, savannah, mountainous, and also on grassy plains.
Common dwarf mongoose
Common Dwarf Mongoose
(Helogale parvula)
Distributed from Ethiopia to Angola and eastern South Africa.
Dwarf mongooses reach a length of 18 to 26 cm, not counting the tail, which is 12 to 20 cm long. Their weight ranges between 230 and 260 g.
live in savannahs, wooded areas, scrub wastelands, as well as in mountain forests at an altitude of 1800 m above sea level. They are active during the day and spend their entire lives on the ground. Mongooses make their shelters in termite mounds (abandoned or actively operating), in pits among tree roots or caves. The body is puny, capable of penetrating into the narrowest cracks and small openings. On occasion, they dig holes on their own. They spend most of the day in a noisy fuss, looking for prey among rocks, bushes, in leafy litter. They feed mainly on insects, small vertebrates, eggs, fruits.
Dwarf mongooses live in groups that are assigned certain territories. In one area, the group lives for 2-3 months, and then migrates in search of food.
Two or three times a year, the female gives birth after a 50-day pregnancy from one to seven (four on average) cubs. For at least 45 days they are fed with milk, but in parallel they begin to be supplied with other members of the group with solid food. Only at the age of three they become adults, and their average life expectancy is up to twelve years.
Ethiopian pygmy mongoose
Ethiopian Dwarf Mongoose
(Helogale hirtula)
Inhabits southern Ethiopia, southern Somalia, northern Kenya.
Small Indian mongoose
Small Asian Mongoose
(Herpestes javanicus)
Distributed in the countries of South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam). It lives both in forests and in open spaces.
An adult mongoose reaches a length of 45-105 cm along with the tail.
It feeds on insects, lizards, various amphibians, snakes, birds, eggs of birds and reptiles, crabs, fish and fruits. The small Indian mongoose is known as an exterminator of poisonous snakes, especially cobras.
Gray Indian mongoose
Common Gray Mongoose
(Herpestes edwardsii)
Distributed from the coast of the Arabian Peninsula to Nepal and south to Pakistan, India and Ceylon.
Body length is 38-46 cm, tail - 35 cm.
Inhabits open spaces, grass plains and thickets of bushes. It usually sleeps in earthen burrows or hollows of trees, where the midday sun does not penetrate.
2-3 times a year the female gives birth to 2 to 4 cubs. Pregnancy lasts 60-65 days.
Brown Indian mongoose
Indian Brown Mongoose
(Herpestes fuscus)
It lives on the island of Sri Lanka and in Western India.
Ichneumon
Egyptian Mongoose
(Herpestes ichneumon)
Distributed in Spain, Portugal, Israel and most of Africa, with the exception of Central Zaire, the lowland forests of West Africa and southeastern South Africa.
The length of the body is 48-60 cm, the length of the tail is from 33 to 44 cm.
Lives exclusively on the plains. It keeps along the banks of rivers, in thickets of reeds and reeds. Here he treads narrow paths between the stems. It hunts during the day for small mammals, birds, snakes, lizards and insects.
red mongoose
Ruddy Mongoose
(Herpestes smithii)
Inhabits the forests of the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka.
Body length is 39-47 cm, tail - 33-36 cm. Body weight is from 0.95 to 1.85 kg.
Cancer mongoose
Crab-eating Mongoose
(Herpestes urva)
The distribution area is limited to small elevations of the southeastern part of the Himalayan range, Arakan, Burma, Assam and southern China.
The body length is about 85 cm, of which about 30 are in the tail.
It feeds mainly on frogs and crabs.
Striped mongoose
Stripe-necked Mongoose
(Herpestes vitticollis)
It lives on the island of Sri Lanka and southern India.
short tailed mongoose
Short-tailed Mongoose
(Herpestes brachyurus)
It lives in the rainforests of the Malay Archipelago, Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippine Islands of Palawan and Busuanga. Settles near rivers and other bodies of water.
Body length is 60-65 cm, tail length is about 25 cm.
The genus (Herpestes) also includes: Long-nosed mongoose (Herpestes naso), Bengal mongoose (Herpestes palustris), Collared mongoose (Herpestes semitorquatus).
white tailed mongoose
White-tailed Mongoose
(Ichneumia albicauda)
Distributed from South Africa, Botswana and Namibia northeast to Somalia, Sudan, southern Arabian Peninsula and northwest to Senegal.
Body length 53-61 cm, tail length 42-47 cm.
Inhabits dense forests and thickets along the banks of water bodies. Can climb trees. Active at night, during the day it hides in burrows, termite mounds or dens between roots and in rocks. Feeds on small mammals, birds and their eggs, insects, reptiles.
liberian mongoose
Liberian Mongoose
(Liberiictis kuhni)
Distributed in Northwestern Liberia and Southwestern Ivory Coast.
The length of the body together with the head is 423 mm, the tail is 197 mm, and the weight is 2.3 kg.
Inhabits tall forests. Keeps in groups of 3-5 individuals. Leads a terrestrial lifestyle. It feeds mainly on insects.
striped mongoose
Banded Mongoose
(Mungos mungo)
Distributed in central and eastern Africa.
Body length is 30-45 cm, tail length is 23-29 cm. Body weight is from 1.5 to 2.25 kg.
It keeps along the banks of rivers and in thickets of thorny bushes. Burrows and nests does not make, uses random shelters. Feeds on insects and their larvae, small rodents, lizards, snakes.
It often wanders in whole groups, keeping very compactly and sometimes, though for a short time, climbing into a common shelter.
They are active mainly in the morning and evening, and they chirp continuously, apparently to maintain mutual contact and transfer information. It feeds on insects, mollusks, reptiles, bird eggs, fruits and berries.
Gambian mongoose
Gambian Mongoose
(Mungos gambianus)
Distributed in West Africa from the Gambia and Senegal east to Nigeria.
These animals lead a diurnal, terrestrial lifestyle. They gather in groups of 10-20 individuals. Communication between members of such a group occurs through various sounds, similar to the chirping of a bird. Clashes often occur between different groups. The Gambian mongoose most commonly feeds on beetles and centipedes, but may also eat small rodents, reptiles, and bird eggs.
Reproduction occurs at any time of the year. They mate 1-2 weeks after the birth of the cubs. These mongooses can sometimes mate with members of another group. Both parents take care of the offspring. While the females go to feed, the males actively guard the den. Cubs can be fed by any lactating female in the group. The lactation period lasts about 1 month.
slender mongoose
Slender Mongoose
(Galerella sanguinea)
It lives in the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa.
Body length is 27-40 cm, tail - 23-33 cm. Body weight - 640-715 g.
These mongooses are kept singly or in pairs. It leads a predominantly diurnal lifestyle, but can sometimes be found on hot moonlit nights. It feeds on small vertebrates, rodents, lizards, snakes and birds, as well as their eggs and insects. Sometimes he eats fruit.
Slender mongooses breed all year round, and the male does not take part in nursing the cubs. Cubs open their eyes 3 weeks after birth. They become completely independent in 6-7 weeks.
South African mongoose
Cape Gray Mongoose
(Galerella pulverulenta)
Distributed in South and South-West Africa in the countries of Namibia, South Africa and Lesotho.
Body length - 55-69 cm. Weight - 0.5–1.0 kg.
It feeds mainly on insects and small rodents, but sometimes attacks birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
1-3 cubs are born from August to December in hidden burrows, in rock crevices or tree hollows. They become independent 4 months after birth.
Angolan slender mongoose
Angolan Slender Mongoose
(Galerella flavescens)
Distributed in Angola and Namibia. It lives in savannahs, avoiding desert and wooded areas.
These animals have a long and thin body, males are 15% larger than females. Teeth - 38.
Males do not take part in caring for offspring. Cubs open their eyes at 3 weeks, at 10 weeks they become independent.
Another representative of the genus (Galerella) lives in Somalia - the Somali slender mongoose (Galerella ochracea).
Mongoose Selous
Selous Mongoose
(Paracynictis selousi)
Distributed in Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Northern Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and also in eastern South Africa.
The body length of the gray merkat, together with the head, is 390–470 mm, and the tail is 280–400 mm.
Inhabits open plains overgrown with forest and shrubs. Digs holes arranged like a labyrinth. It leads a terrestrial lifestyle, active at night, but sometimes it can be found on the surface of the earth and during the day when it is resting. Obviously, each mongoose digs its own hole, and does not unite with other relatives in groups, they prefer to lead a solitary lifestyle.
It feeds on insects, frogs, lizards and small rodents.
Umbi
Meller's Mongoose
(Rhynchogale melleri)
Distributed from southern Zaire and Tanzania to eastern South Africa.
The body length is 440–485 mm, the tail is 300–400 mm.
It lives in wooded areas, found in wet swampy areas, densely overgrown with grass. Leads a terrestrial lifestyle, active at night, lives alone. It feeds on fruits, termites, and possibly small vertebrates. The female gives birth to two cubs (in Zaire this happens in December), at birth they are blind and spend the first time in a lair arranged in a rocky cave.
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 elongated body from 20 to 75 centimeters, a small head with an elongated muzzle and small ears, a rather long tail reaching the length of the body 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 an . 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);
The long-nosed kuzimanza feeds on small terrestrial insects, raking the ground and foliage with its 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 nighttime terrestrial 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 the ordinary population of 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 film of the same name was released.
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 invented and began producing attack helicopters for the Turkish army 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 mollusks.
Some species are omnivorous and, in addition to animal food, consume plants, fruits, berries, nuts, and various seeds. There are interesting observations about how mongooses crack nuts- taking a nut with its front limbs, 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, the mating seasons of mongooses take place 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. Until independent life, 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 other larger 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 at the moment is up to 12 years.
South African mongoose 55 to 69 cm long, tail 20 to 34 cm long, weight 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
The animals live in the Cape Province, in the south of the Free State, in the north of Lesotho, along the Drakensberg Mountains in the west of KwaZulu-Natal, and in the south and north of Namibia and southwest Angola. In the Cape Province, it is the most common solitary predator.
The South African mongoose lives in forests, bush and semi-deserts, in regions with high and low rainfall. Especially often the animal is found in fynbos, 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.
area: gray mongoose - endemic to South and Southwest 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 hairless indentation. 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. The lower part of the body is sometimes lighter and less mottled than the upper part. 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 a variety of habitats ranging from dry herbaceous-shrub associations of rocky escarpments 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.
The gray mongoose hunts large prey like cats - it waits 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, in 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 widespread and 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).