Geographic Range
Bushy-tailed mongooses (
Bdeogale crassicauda
) are native to eastern Africa in Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and
Yemen.
Habitat
Bushy-tailed mongooses live in flood plains and on the fringes of lowland forests
near rivers. The vegetation in these areas is mainly grasslands with small shrubs
and scattered trees. They are also found on rocky hills that have plenty of crevices
and holes for hiding. The bases of these hills are normally surrounded by grass lands.
Along coastal regions they most commonly occur in thick rain forests.
- Habitat Regions
- tropical
- terrestrial
- Terrestrial Biomes
- savanna or grassland
- rainforest
- Other Habitat Features
- riparian
Physical Description
Bushy-tailed mongooses weigh less than 2 kg and have head and body lengths ranging
between 400 to 500 mm, their bushy tails range from 180 to 300 mm long. Their hind
feet are between 70 to 84 mm long, with four toes on both their front and back paws.
Their claws are slightly curved and are often worn. Males and females are similar
in size, but males tend to weigh slightly more. In four of the five subspecies, individuals
have dark brown fur, however,
B. c. omnivore
has yellowy- brown fur. Their coat consists of thick underfur, which ranges from
grey to yellow-brown, and long, dark brown guard hairs. The skull of bushy-tailed
mongooses is more rounded than other
herpestids
, which makes their snout appear short. Their dental formula is: I 3/3; C 1/1; P 4/4;
M 2/2. Their upper incisors are separated, whereas their lower incisors are close
together. Their upper canines are straight, while their lower canines are curved.
Their first premolar is peg-like and their 3rd and 4th are larger than other
herpestids
of a similar size.
- Other Physical Features
- endothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- Sexual Dimorphism
- sexes alike
- male larger
Reproduction
The mating system and behavior has not been characterized for this species.
Little is known about the breeding of bushy-tailed mongooses, but they are thought
to be similar to other
herpestids
, where breeding occurs during wet seasons that are linked with monsoons, from March
to May and October to December. Mongooses have gestation periods of 42 to 105 days
and 1 to 4 pups per litter. They may reach sexual maturity as early as 9 to 10 months,
or as late as 2 years.
- Key Reproductive Features
- iteroparous
- seasonal breeding
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
Little is known of bushy-tailed mongooses' parental care, but once born, young stay
close to their mother and nurse.
Herpestid
offspring tend to be altricial and are raised in dens until they are mobile.
- Parental Investment
- altricial
- female parental care
Lifespan/Longevity
The average lifespan of bushy-tailed mongooses is unknown. In the wild, most
herpestids
live 6 to 10 years, although in captivity their lifespan is higher. Ring-tailed mongooses
(
Galidia elegans
) have survived up to 24 years in captivity.
Behavior
Bushy-tailed mongooses are solitary and primarily nocturnal, sleeping in holes and
crevices during the day, although they are occasionally seen during the daytime. Little
is known about their territory range. When a individual bushy-tailed mongoose was
captured, it did not bark or try to escape, suggesting that this species may be more
docile then other mongoose species.
Home Range
Home Range has not been characterized for this species.
Communication and Perception
Bushy-tailed mongooses are solitary and little is known about their modes of communication.
Most communication is likely established from trails left by scent glands located
near their anus.
- Other Communication Modes
- scent marks
Food Habits
Bushy-tailed mongooses are largely insectivorous, feeding mainly at night. Their claws
may be used for scraping at larvae and insects from top layers of soil but not for
extensive digging. In captivity, bushy-tailed mongooses were unable to break eggs,
but ate egg contents when they were pre-broken. Likewise, live rats were also consumed
by captive mongooses, but they had difficulty capturing and killing them. One individual
was offered a live 100 cm long striped bellied sand snake (
Psammophis subtaeniatus
), which the mongoose soon killed and ate. This may show that they are primarily insectivorous,
but will occasionally eat reptiles such as lizards and snakes.
- Primary Diet
-
carnivore
- eats terrestrial vertebrates
- insectivore
- Animal Foods
- mammals
- reptiles
- eggs
- insects
Predation
Large birds, such as raptors and other larger carnivores, have been known to feed
on mongooses. Other predators of bushy-tailed mongooses may include snakes; evidence
of this was shown when an individual was found in the stomach of a large west African
gaboon viper (
Vipera rhinoceros
). Bushy-tailed mongooses may avoid predators by staying in well hidden holes during
the day and coming out at night to feed.
Ecosystem Roles
Little is known of the ecological role of bushy-tailed mongooses, although they most
likely play a role in the reduction of insects and some small reptiles.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
There is no known economic importance of bushy-tailed mongooses. Other mongooses,
such as Asian mongooses (
Herpestes javanicus
) have been introduced many places such as the Caribbean islands, Hawaii and Japan,
to reduce the number of rodents and venomous snakes. It is unlikely that bushy-tailed
mongooses will ever be used in this way because they are largely insectivorous.
- Positive Impacts
- controls pest population
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
There are no known adverse effects of bushy-tailed mongooses on humans.
Conservation Status
Bushy-tailed mongooses are fairly rare but in some areas, such as the Eastern Arc
Mountains, they were more frequently captured by camera traps than any other animal.
According to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species they are in the category of 'least
concern' due to their wide distribution and the variety of habitats in which they
are found. They are also found in many protected areas within their range. Some concerns
for bushy-tailed mongooses include the loss of habitat and that protected areas may
not be large enough to sustain a sizable population.
Additional Links
Contributors
Keith Ferguson (author), Northern Michigan University, John Bruggink (editor), Northern Michigan University, Leila Siciliano Martina (editor), Texas State University.
- Ethiopian
-
living in sub-Saharan Africa (south of 30 degrees north) and Madagascar.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- tropical
-
the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south.
- terrestrial
-
Living on the ground.
- tropical savanna and grassland
-
A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.
- savanna
-
A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.
- temperate grassland
-
A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.
- rainforest
-
rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal.
- riparian
-
Referring to something living or located adjacent to a waterbody (usually, but not always, a river or stream).
- iteroparous
-
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
- seasonal breeding
-
breeding is confined to a particular season
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- altricial
-
young are born in a relatively underdeveloped state; they are unable to feed or care for themselves or locomote independently for a period of time after birth/hatching. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching.
- female parental care
-
parental care is carried out by females
- nocturnal
-
active during the night
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- solitary
-
lives alone
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
- scent marks
-
communicates by producing scents from special gland(s) and placing them on a surface whether others can smell or taste them
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
- carnivore
-
an animal that mainly eats meat
- insectivore
-
An animal that eats mainly insects or spiders.
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
References
Avital, E., E. Jablonka. 2000. Animal Traditions: Behavioral Inheritance in Evolution . Baltimore: Cambridge University Press.
Hoffmann, M. 2008. " Bdeogale omnivora " (On-line). IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Accessed January 31, 2013 at http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/136686/0 .
McGraw-Hill, 2007. Mongoose. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology , 11: 390-391.
Nowak, R. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World 6th Edition . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Sale, J., T. Mark. 1970. A New Four-toed Mongoose from Kenya, Bdeogale Crassicauda Nigrwscens. Journal of East African Natural History , 28: 10-15.
Schreiber, A. 1989. Weasels, Civets, Mongooses, and Their Relatives: An Action Plan for the Conservation of Mustelids and Viverrids . Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Accessed April 24, 2013 at http://www.carnivoreconservation.org/files/actionplans/weasels_civets_mongooses.pdf .
Taylor, E. 1987. Bdeogale crassicauda. Mammailian Species , 294: 1-4.
Veron, G., M. Colyn, A. Dunham, P. Taylor, P. Gaubert. 2004. Molecular systematics and origin of sociality in mongooses ( Herpestidae , Carnivora ). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution , 30: 582-598.