Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Mel­o­gale everetti is only found on Mt. Kin­a­balu on the North­ern tip of the is­land of Bor­neo. Mt. Kin­a­balu is in Kin­a­balu Park in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. It is the only fer­ret bad­ger to in­habit this re­gion. (Jack­son, 1997; Pro­tected Areas Pro­gramme, 1999)

• Biogeographic Regions
• oriental
  • native

• Other Geographic Terms
• island endemic

Habi­tat

Mel­o­gale everetti oc­curs on Mt. Kin­a­balu at el­e­va­tions of 1,000 to 3,000 m. It is a lit­tle-stud­ied species, so in­for­ma­tion on the par­tic­u­lars of its habi­tat are lack­ing. How­ever, the habi­tat of the genus Mel­o­gale is wooded hill­sides and sub-trop­i­cal and trop­i­cal forests. Con­sid­er­ing the sup­port­ing in­for­ma­tion, the lat­ter of the three is the most log­i­cal habi­tat de­scrip­tion for this par­tic­u­lar fer­ret bad­ger, al­though there seems to be no in­for­ma­tion stat­ing this specif­i­cally. (Jack­son, 1997; Nowak, 1995; Pro­tected Areas Pro­gramme, 1999)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• rainforest
• mountains

• Range elevation

  1,000 to 3,000 m

  to ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Mel­o­gale everetti is small and long com­pared to other species of fer­ret bad­ger. They weigh be­tween one and two kg, and are be­tween 330 and 440 mm in length. The tail is long and bushy and can be from 152 to 230 mm in length.

Fer­ret bad­gers have short legs and broad feet with strong dig­ging claws that are char­ac­ter­is­tic of bad­gers. There are ridges that run along the pads of the feet and the toes are par­tially webbed. These are thought to be climb­ing adap­ta­tions.

The defin­ing char­ac­ter­is­tic of a fer­ret bad­ger is the white or yel­low­ish fer­ret-like mask on the face. A dor­sal stripe is also pre­sent that can range in color from white to red. The rest of the body can range from grey-brown to dark black with a lighter under side.

No spe­cific data exist on vari­a­tions in col­oration be­tween the dif­fer­ent fer­ret bad­ger species, or whether they ex­hibit ge­o­graphic vari­a­tion. (Jack­son, 1997; Nowak, 1995; Walker, 1964)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Range mass

  1 to 3 kg

  2.20 to 6.61 lb

• Range length

  330 to 430 mm

  12.99 to 16.93 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

In­for­ma­tion on the mat­ing sys­tem of this species is not avail­able.

The breed­ing sea­son of the genus Mel­o­gale is long and the fe­males are ac­tu­ally able to re­pro­duce at any point in the year. Males, how­ever, un­dergo a pe­riod of non-re­pro­duc­tion. Dur­ing this time (from around Sep­tem­ber to De­cem­ber) the male fer­ret bad­ger ceases sperm pro­duc­tion.

Fe­males give birth to lit­ters of 1 to 5 off­spring after a ges­ta­tion of 57 to 80 days. Young are weaned be­tween 2 and 3 months of age.

Fer­ret bad­gers do not em­ploy de­layed im­plan­ta­tion of em­bryos. Young are usu­ally born in May and June. (Jack­son, 1997; Nowak, 1995)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  It is likely that these animals breed annually.

• Breeding season

  from around March to September

• Range number of offspring

  1 to 5

• Range gestation period

  57 to 80 days

• Range weaning age

  2 to 3 months

Lit­tle is known about the parental care in this species. Moth­ers care for their young in a bur­row until they are able to for­age for them­selves. Nurs­ing lasts for be­tween 2 and 3 months. It is not known ex­ac­tally when the young be­come in­de­pen­dent of the mother, or whether the fa­ther plays any part in parental care. (Jack­son, 1997; Nowak, 1995)

• Parental Investment
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

There ap­pears to be no in­for­ma­tion on the lifes­pan of M. everetti ei­ther in the wild or in cap­tiv­ity. How­ever, a very sim­i­lar species, Mel­o­gale moschata, the Chi­nese fer­ret bad­ger, is said to have still been liv­ing after 10 years and 6 months in cap­tiv­ity. (Nowak, 1995)

Be­hav­ior

Fer­ret bad­gers are said to be fierce when pro­voked or cor­nered. The bulk of their ac­tiv­ity tran­spires at night but are also ac­tive at dusk. When M. everetti isn't out for­ag­ing it re­sides in a bur­row. Fer­ret bad­gers don't dig their own bur­rows but cap­i­tal­ize on pre-ex­ist­ing bur­rows dug by other an­i­mals. (Jack­son, 1997; Nowak, 1995)

• Key Behaviors
• fossorial
• nocturnal
• motile

Home Range

The home range size for these an­i­mals is not known.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Mel­o­gale everetti ex­hibits warn­ing col­oration and ex­udes a pun­gent odor from its scent glands if pressed. These forms of com­mu­ni­ca­tion are sim­i­lar to, but not as ex­treme as, those of skunks.

As is true of vir­tu­ally all mam­mals, vi­sual sig­nals, tac­tile cues, scents, and vo­cal­iza­tions prob­a­bly play some role in com­mu­ni­ca­tion be­tween con­specifics. How­ever, be­cause there seem have been no ob­ser­va­tions of the be­hav­ior of M. everetti in the wild or in cap­tiv­ity pub­lished, it is mpt pos­si­ble to com­ment fur­ther on any spe­cific forms of com­mu­ni­ca­tion used by these an­i­mals. (Nowak, 1995)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

All Mel­o­gale species ap­pear to be very om­niv­o­rous. Fer­ret bad­gers for­age on the ground mostly for in­ver­te­brates, am­phib­ians, in­sects, fruit and car­rion. They are also for­mi­da­ble climbers and have been known to for­age in trees as well. (Jack­son, 1997; Jack­son, 1997; Jack­son, 1997)

• Primary Diet
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• mammals
• amphibians
• reptiles
• eggs
• carrion
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods
• terrestrial worms

• Plant Foods
• fruit

Pre­da­tion

The stripe and mask of M. everetti and its coun­ter­parts are thought to be warn­ing col­oration. Fer­ret bad­gers are said to emit a pun­gent scent from their anal glands when threat­ened. (Nowak, 1995)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Once again this is a field that has not been ex­plored in ref­er­ence to M. everetti. How­ever, it is likely that be­cause of their preda­tory be­hav­ior, these an­i­mals af­fect the pop­u­la­tions of prey or­gan­isms. To the ex­tent that these bad­gers must dig through the upper lev­els of soils to ob­tain food, these an­i­mals prob­a­bly con­tribute to help to aer­ate the soil.

• Ecosystem Impact
• soil aeration

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Peo­ple travel from all over the world to visit Kin­a­balu Park where M. everetti re­sides. Kin­a­balu Park has a rich di­ver­sity of flora and fauna that at­tracts tourists. This tourism gen­er­ates money for the sur­round­ing area and the na­tive peo­ple. Also, these an­i­mals may help hu­mans in more di­rect ways. The Burmese fer­ret bad­ger (Mel­o­gale per­son­ata) is said to be wel­comed into the homes of the na­tives be­cause their rid the premises of un­wanted pests such as in­sects and in­ver­te­brates. (Jack­son, 1997; Pro­tected Areas Pro­gramme, 1999)

• Positive Impacts
• ecotourism

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There ap­pears to be no in­for­ma­tion has been pub­lished on any neg­a­tive af­fects of M. everetti upon hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

The range of these an­i­mals is very lim­ited, and as such, the pop­u­la­tion of these fer­ret bad­gers seems to be one which could eas­ily be er­rad­i­cated if proper steps are not taken to con­serve its habi­tat. Al­though CITES and the US En­dan­gered Species act don't con­sider the species any spe­cial risk, IUCN lists it as vul­ner­a­ble.

Luck­ily for M. everetti, the range of the species falls into a pro­tected na­tional con­ser­va­tion park. (Jack­son, 1997; Pro­tected Areas Pro­gramme, 1999)

• IUCN Red List

  Data Deficient
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Data Deficient
  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Nancy Shef­ferly (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Nicole Ed­mi­son (au­thor), Hum­boldt State Uni­ver­sity, Brian Ar­bo­gast (ed­i­tor), Hum­boldt State Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

Bur­ton, J., B. Pear­son. 1987. The Collins Guide to the Rare Mam­mals of the World. Lex­ing­ton, Mass.: The Stephen Greene Press.

Jack­son, S. 1997. "Bad­ger Pages: The fer­ret bad­gers (Mel­o­gale spp.)" (On-line). Ac­cessed De­cem­ber 3, 2003 at http://​www.​badgers.​org.​uk/​badgerpages/​ferret-badgers-01.​html.

Nowak, R. 1995. "Walker's Mam­mals of the World On­line" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 31, 2001 at http://​www.​press.​jhu.​edu/​books/​walker/​carnivora.​mustelidae.​melogale.​html.

Pro­tected Areas Pro­gramme, 1999. "World Her­itage Sites" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 31, 2001 at http://​www.​wcmc.​org.​uk/​protected_​areas/​data/​wh/​kinabalu.​html.

Walker, E. 1964. Mam­mals of the World, Vol. 2. Bal­ti­more: The Johns Hop­kins Press.