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Family Herpestidae
Subfamily Herpestinae (Mongoose)

Small Indian mongoose Herpestes javanicus Geoffroy, 1812

Synonym: Herpestes auropunctatus Hodgson, 1836

Distribution

The small mongoose is distributed through the Himalayas at an altitude of 2300 m, from Kashmir to Bhutan. In the south of Ganges it occurs in Madhya Pradesh to as far as Orissa in the east, extending eastwards to West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, Myanmar, Thailand and Malayan peninsula (Pocock 1939, Prater 1971, ZSI 1992, Choudhury 1997 a,b, 1999). It occurs westwards in Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Iran and Iraq (Pocock 1939, Medway 1978, Corbet & Hill 1992).

Description

It is small in size as compared to other mongoose species with the tail always shorter than the head and body, but usually over two-third its length. The coat is short, up to about 20 mm, soft and silky. The coat colour varies seasonally and individually. The speckling is always fine, the contour-hair having five rings of which two are pale. The general body colour looks like olive-brown with gold-flecks. Legs have the same tint as the body, with the paws often paler. Head and body length is around 250 to 410 mm, tail 236 to 253 mm (Pocock 1941, Medway 1978, Corbet & Hill 1992).

Two subspecies are reported from India, the typical H. javanicus auropunctatus Hodgson, 1836 from north India is darker brown and minutely speckled with golden colour and the western desert form H. javanicus pallipes Blyth, 1946 which is paler in shade, dorsally grey and usually whitish below.

Behaviour

It lives in burrows, is mainly diurnal and feeds on a wide variety of small vertebrates and large invertebrates, similar to grey mongoose. Females are polyestrous, breeding throughout the year. Gestation period is around 43 days. Both sexes reach maturity within first year. The maximum-recorded life span is nine years and eight months (Acharjyo & Mohapatra 1976).

Conservation status

It is listed in Schedule IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Appendix III of CITES and LR 1c during the CAMP Workshop.

| Introduction | Mustelids | Viverrids | Herpestids | 
| Conservation Significance | References |