Northern pig badger

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Northern pig badger
Drawing from Etude pour servir à l'histoire de la fauna mammalogique de la Chine by Alphonse Milne-Edwards [1]

Drawing from Etude pour servir à l'histoire de la fauna mammalogique de la Chine by Alphonse Milne-Edwards

Systematics
Subordination : Canine (Caniformia)
Superfamily : Marten relatives (Musteloidea)
Family : Marten (Mustelidae)
Subfamily : Badgers (Melinae)
Genre : Pig badger ( Arctonyx )
Type : Northern pig badger
Scientific name
Arctonyx albogularis
( Blyth , 1853)

The northern pig badger ( Arctonyx albogularis ) is a species of predator from the subfamily of badgers (Melinae) within the family of marten (Mustelidae). It occurs in central and southern China, in the far east of Tibet and in the eastern Himalayas.

features

The species is a medium-sized badger. With a head-trunk length of 55 to 70 centimeters and a 11.4 to 22.2 centimeter long tail, it is about the same size as the European badger . The tail is usually a quarter of the length of the head and torso. The rear foot length is 7.6 to 9.5 inches and the ears are about 3.9 inches long. The skull is 116 to 149 mm long ( condylobasal length ) and 68.8 to 89.1 mm wide ( zygomatic arch width ). A crest is missing or poorly developed. The fur is shaggy and predominantly black on the front back, behind it black mixed with white hair. It is softer and longer than that of the other pig badger species. In winter the northern pig badger develops a dense undercoat, the top coat grows to a length of more than 7 cm.

The northern pig badger is significantly smaller than the pig badger ( A. collaris ), has a more delicate skull and, on average, smaller premolars and molars . Compared to the Sumatran pig badger ( A. hoevenii ), the northern pig badger is larger, has a larger skull, a wider, proportionally less elongated snout, and larger molar teeth. Since the black outer hairs in the fur overlap the lighter undercoat, the northern pig badger is significantly darker than the pig badger but not as dark as the Sumatran pig badger.

Way of life

The northern pig badger is found in China from the provinces of Gansu , Hebei , Shanxi and Liaoning in the north to Yunnan , Guangxi and Guangdong in the south, as well as in the far east of Tibet, in the northeast of India and possibly also in Nepal and in the north of Bangladesh . In northeast India, the range overlaps with that of the pig's badger. The animals live in temperate forests and grasslands up to an altitude of 4300 meters and are relatively common in some areas. Apart from the mating season in April and May, badgers are solitary. They prefer to build their underground structures on the banks of streams and rivers. The young, one to four per litter, are born in February or March and suckled for about four months. Unlike other pig badger species, the northern pig badger usually hibernates from November to February, especially in northern China. The largely nocturnal animals are mainly active from 7 to 9 p.m. and from 3 to 5:50 a.m. The northern pig badger's predators are the leopard , the wolf and the collar bear .

So far, two studies have been carried out on the feeding of the northern pig badger. In Jiangxi in the southeast of China, the animals lived almost exclusively carnivorous during the study period . Small vertebrates, especially rodents, were found in 77% of the fecal samples examined, and snails, the remains of which were found in 19% of the samples, were an important part of the diet. No plant remains were found. In Shaanxi in northern China, on the other hand , the northern pig badgers investigated mainly ate worms, beetles, cicadas, caterpillars, roots, leaves and acorns. Remains of rodents, snakes, frogs and birds were found in only 16% of the feces samples. It must be assumed that northern pig badgers are adaptable omnivores that use a variety of food sources depending on the season, local conditions and individual preferences.

Systematics

The northern pig badger was first scientifically described in 1853 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth under the name Meles albogularis . Synonym descriptions were published by the French naturalist Alphonse Milne-Edwards ( Meles leucolaemus Milne-Edwards, 1867 and Meles (Arctonyx) obscurus Milne-Edwards, 1871) and the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas ( Arctonyx leucolaemus orestes Thomas incultus , 1911 and Arctonyx obscurus obscurus , among others Thomas, 1922). Later, all names of the species were synonymous with Arctonyx collaris , the pig badger . In 2008, the American zoologist Kristofer Helgen , his wife and a colleague from Singapore revalidated the species under the name Arctonyx albogularis after they were able to demonstrate significant morphological differences between the three species of pig badger .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b Milne-Edwards A. 1871. Etude pour servir à l'histoire de la fauna mammalogique de la Chine. In: Milne-Edwards A, ed. Recherches pour servir à l'histoire des mammifères. Paris: Masson, 67-229.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Kristofer M. Helgen, Norman T-Lon Lim, Lauren E. Helgen: The hog-badger is not an edentate: systematics and evolution of the genus Arctonyx (Mammalia: Mustelidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 154, Issue 2, October 2008, Pages 353-385, doi: 10.1111 / j.1096-3642.2008.00416.x
  3. ^ Blyth E. 1853. Report of zoological curator for September meeting. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 22: 589-594.
  4. ^ Milne-Edwards A. 1867. Observations on quelques mammifères du nord de la Chine. Annales des Sciences Naturelles (comprenant la zoologie) (series 5) 7: 375-377; 8: 374-376.
  5. ^ Thomas O. 1911. The Duke of Bedford's Zoological Exploration of Eastern Asia. XIV. On mammals from southern Shen-si, Central China. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1911: 687-695.
  6. ↑ Thomas O. 1922. On mammals from the Yunnan Highlands collected by Mr. George Forrest and presented to the British Museum by Col. Stephenson R. Clarke. DSO Annals and Magazine of Natural History (series 9) 10: 391-406.

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