Mongooses

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mongooses
Zebra mongoose (Mungos mungo)

Zebra mongoose ( Mungos mungo )

Systematics
Class : Mammals (mammalia)
Subclass : Higher mammals (Eutheria)
Superordinate : Laurasiatheria
Order : Predators (Carnivora)
Subordination : Feline (Feliformia)
Family : Mongooses
Scientific name
Herpestidae
Bonaparte , 1845

The mongooses (Herpestidae) are a family of mammals from the order of the carnivores (Carnivora). They include 34 species that are common in Africa , southern Asia, and southern Europe . The most famous representatives include the mongoose and meerkats .

Surname

Mongooses are also known under the names of mongooses, Ichneumons or Kusimansen , although these names should actually only be applied to individual genera of the mongoose. The term mongoose is of Dravidian origin ( Telugu muṅgisa , Kannada muṅgisi ) and was borrowed from Portuguese in the European languages. In the early records in European languages, the t of the last syllable is missing , even today in English ( mongoose ); it was probably first inserted in French around 1700 as a hypercorrection (analogy to langouste , for example , " lobster "). The word mongoose may also have arisen as a false singular form through hypercorrection in the assumption that mangus / mongoose is a plural form.

Distribution of the Herpestidae family . The areas drawn in a darker shade have a higher species diversity ( diversity ).

features

Bit of a dwarf mongoose ( Helogale undulata )

Mongooses are relatively small predators, generally characterized by a slender body with short limbs. The fur is usually gray or brown in color and rather monochrome, although some species have speckles or stripes. The tail is relatively short and in many species slightly bushy. These animals reach head body lengths of 18 to 71 centimeters, tail lengths of 15 to 53 centimeters and a weight of 0.2 to 5 kilograms.

The feet usually end in five toes, which are provided with non-retractable claws - but some species only have four toes. Many species have anal glands that produce a pungent smelling secretion.

The head is relatively small, the ears are small and rounded, the snout is rather pointed. The tooth formula is I 3/3 - C 1/1 - P 3-4 / 3-4 - M 2/2, so mongooses have a total of 36 to 40 teeth.

distribution and habitat

Most mongooses are in Africa south of the Sahara is home, but some species are also found on the Arabian Peninsula and in South and Southeast Asia . One species, the Ichneumon, also lives on the Iberian Peninsula - but it is disputed whether the stocks there are of natural origin or were introduced by humans. For the purpose of pest control, several species, the ichneumon and the two mongoose species , have also been introduced to various other regions including Italy , Croatia , Japan , the Caribbean islands, and other islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans .

Mongooses inhabit different habitats, many species prefer savannahs and other open areas. There are also some forest-dwelling species, too dry areas usually avoid these animals.

Way of life

activity

Fox mongoose

Among mongooses there are both solitary species and those that live in complex, organized groups. The solitary animals make up the majority of the species. Only three species are sociable: the meerkat, the dwarf mongoose and the zebra mongoose. It is noticeable that these three are very small, feed almost exclusively on invertebrates and are active during the day. Night activity, however, is the rule among loners.

The greatest benefit of social life is protection from enemies. Since mongooses living in groups mainly live in open habitats, they are particularly visible here to potential enemies. When several members of a group are vigilant, a predator will be noticed early, leaving time to seek shelter in the den. It is also known of all three species that they defend themselves together against attackers and thus often force the enemy to surrender.

The social organization within a colony is completely different for meerkats, zebra mongooses and dwarf mongooses. Meerkat colonies have a clear hierarchy and a dominant pair that produce offspring while the other individuals in the group help raise them. In a colony of zebra mongoose, however, there is no clear hierarchy. At the time of reproduction the males fight over and over again for the females; three quarters of the females in a burrow eventually have offspring. In a group of dwarf mongooses there is a dominant female that is mated by several males; although other females can also find mates, it is usually only this dominant female that produces offspring.

The size of the action space varies greatly. Action areas are small, especially in regions that offer a plentiful supply of food, whereas in arid regions they are much larger. In the case of the white-tailed pneumon, action areas of 0.4 to 1.2 km² can be determined in the Serengeti , while in Ethiopia up to 4.3 km². Groups of meerkats have particularly large action areas, which can cover up to 10 km².

There are also occasional interactions between mongooses and completely different species. So Kusimansen often follow Mangaben and benefit from their vigilance. The zebra mongoose sometimes visits warthogs to rid them of parasites .

food

These animals are predators that feed on insects and their larvae , other invertebrates (such as worms or crabs ), and smaller vertebrates. Invertebrates predominate in their diet: 17 species mainly eat insects, only seven feed mainly on vertebrates ; for the other species there is either no preference or it is not known. The group living species are all predominantly insectivores. Mongooses are constantly on the move in search of food. They look for food in the undergrowth, in the soil or in the droppings of large vertebrates.

Vertebrates are killed with a bite in the skull before they are eaten. Hard-shell prey is often grabbed between the front paws and thrown back against a hard surface in order to crack it.

Some species are known for their ability to kill poisonous snakes . This is especially true for the mongoose , but also for some African species. The main benefit is their lightning-fast movements, which enable them to avoid the snake's stumbling block. However, mongooses are also extremely insensitive to numerous toxins . So they eat scorpions and millipedes unscathed .

Several species of mongoose have also been observed to be scavengers . Then they also feed on the carcasses of large antelopes or deer . In the vicinity of humans, mongooses also rummage through garbage for food. Eating plant material such as fruits has been observed sporadically, but is a rare exception.

Reproduction

The offspring are usually born in a burrow after a gestation period of 40 to 80 days. In the solitary species the litter size is one to three; the young stay in the burrow for about ten weeks and are looked after by the mother alone. In the group living mongooses, the litter is larger and can contain up to six young, which due to the protection of the community leave the burrow earlier - usually after four weeks. In addition to the mother, other conspecifics of both sexes take care of the young. The individuals who do not care for boys themselves make the greatest contribution.

The eyes of the boys weighing 20 to 125 g at birth open after two weeks. They are suckled until they are four to eight weeks old. With the loners, the boys stay with their mother for about six months. The social species provide the young with food in their first three to four months of life, after which they can take care of themselves under the protection of the group.

In captivity, mongooses can live to be quite old. A Cape mongoose lived to be twenty years old. In the wild, however, such lifetimes are highly unlikely.

Enemies

Because of their small size, mongooses have a large number of enemies. Among the most important are birds of prey , larger predators , snakes and monitor lizards . Sometimes other mongooses also belong to the enemy, for example the little mongoose is preyed on by Ichneumons and Slender mongooses .

Mongooses and people

Mangusts are already mentioned in texts from ancient India and ancient Egypt; they were mainly admired for their ability to fight snakes. This ability has already been described in the Historia animalium . Exhibition fights between mongooses and snakes are still held in villages in Western Asia.

In Egypt, mongooses also had a religious meaning. The Egyptian mythology reports that the sun god Re turned into a mongoose to fight the snake god Apophis . Mongooses were sacred animals from around 2500 BC. Mummified.

In Indian mythology, a jewel-spitting mongoose is seen as an important attribute of Vaishravana / Kubera , one of the Lokapala . She supported him in the fight against naga snakes , which guarded the earthly treasures.

In some places, mongooses are still eaten today. This is common wherever bush meat is on the menu. Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are some of the countries that eat bush meat. In the Congo, the Angolan kusimanse is said to be the most commonly killed mammal.

Some species are occasionally kept as pets . This is especially common in Asia, where mongooses are kept tame.

In the literature is found in the Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling a tale of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a mongoose who protects a human family from cobras. In an ancient Indian poetry, the Panchatantra , a mongoose also appears as a helpful snake fighter. In recent times the meerkat has surpassed the mongoose as the most famous mongoose. They appear in popular animal documentaries ( The Funny World of Animals ) and cartoons ( The Lion King ).

The little mongoose has been introduced to the Caribbean, Hawaii, Japan and many other areas since the 1870s. The Indian mongoose was also brought to Japan, and the ichneumon perhaps to Spain and Portugal. It was hoped that this would fight the snakes and rats. However, these introductions often have fatal consequences for the endemic fauna of these areas. In addition, the imported mongooses penetrated chicken coops, so that today they are often viewed as pests.

Mongooses are also feared as carriers of rabies . This is known from several species, including the little mongoose, the fox mongoose and the meerkat.

Threat and protection

Southern pygmy mongoose

Most species of mongoose are not yet threatened. The International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN lists the Liberian mongoose and the South Indian / Sri Lankan species "Herpestes fuscus" as endangered ( Vulnerable ). Furthermore, a species of black-footed mongoose "Bdeogale omnivora" is listed as endangered. However, this is considered by some authors as a subspecies of the black-footed mongoose species bush-tailed mongoose (Bdeogale crassicauda). Another species, the Jackson mongoose , the black-footed mongoose , is considered to be Near Threatened . For three species of mongoose there is insufficient data for a categorization and the rest of the total of 33 species are included in the Red List of Threatened Species , but are assessed as Least Concern .

Systematics

External system

Mongooses are counted to the subordination of the feline within the predators . In the past they were thought to be close relatives of the stealthy cats , sometimes they were even listed as their subfamily. Recent research shows that they may be more closely related to the hyenas . They are most closely related to the Malagasy carnivores (Eupleridae), a family of predators endemic to Madagascar that is believed to have evolved from mongoose-like ancestors who crossed the Mozambique Strait . A group of these Malagasy predators, the Madagascar mongooses (Galidiinae), were formerly known as the subfamily of the mongooses.

Internal system

Cladogram for the mongoose system:


Crawling cats (Viverridae)


   

Hyenas (Hyaenidae)


   

Malagasy carnivores (Eupleridae)


 Mongooses  


Meerkat ( Suricata suricatta )


   


Mongooses


   

Liberian mongoose ( Liberiictis kuhni )



   

Pygmy mongoose ( Helogale )


   

Kusimansen ( Crossarchus )





   



White-tailed mongoose  ( Ichneumia albicauda )



   



Common mongoose ( Paracynictis selousi )


   

Fox mongoose  ( Cynictis penicillata )



   

Meller mongoose ( Rhynchogale melleri )


   

Black-footed mongoose ( Bdeogale )






   


Marsh mongoose ( Atilax paludinosus )


   

Long-nosed mongoose ( Xenogale naso )



   

Herpestes








Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The mongooses are divided into two subfamilies and 15 genera with a total of 34 species:

  • The subfamily Herpestinae includes the solitary mongoose.
  • The gregarious mongooses that live in groups belong to the subfamily Mungotinae.
    • The Kusimansen ( Crossarchus ) are four species living in Africa.
    • The cunning mongoose ( Dologale dybowskii ) lives in central Africa and is largely unknown.
    • The dwarf mongooses ( Helogale ) are the smallest mongooses. They are of two types.
    • The Liberian mongoose ( Liberiictis kuhni ) was only discovered in 1958 and inhabits a small area in West Africa.
    • The genus Mungos includes two species, the zebra mongoose ( M. mungo ) and the Gambian mongoose ( M. gambianus ).
    • The meerkat or surikate ( Suricata suricatta ) is known for its life in colonies.

literature

  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
  • DE Wilson, DM Reeder: Mammal Species of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
  • Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier (Eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 1: Carnivores. Lynx Edicions, 2009, ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1 .

Web links

Commons : Mongooses  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ mongoose. In: Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd Edition. 1989.
  2. ↑ mungo. In: Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd Edition. 1989.
  3. ↑ Anneliese and Peter Keilhauer: Ladakh and Zanskar. Du Mont Verlag, 1980, p. 158.
  4. ^ Search for "Herpestidae" in the IUCN 2009 Red List of Threatened Species . Accessed January 26, 2010.
  5. ↑ M. Patou, PA Mclenachan, CG Morley, A. Couloux, AP Jennings, G. Veron: Molecular phylogeny of the Herpestidae (Mammalia, Carnivora) with a special emphasis on the Asian Herpestes. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 53 (1), 2009, pp. 69-80. doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2009.05.038
  6. ↑ JS Gilchist, AP Jennings, G. Veron, P. Cavallini: Family Herpestidaae (Mongooses). In: Don E. Wilson, Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 1: Carnivores. Lynx Edicions, 2009, ISBN 978-84-96553-49-1 , p. 311.