The Taru Desert of Tanzania - A Harsh Landscape

The Dwarf Mongoose, Helogale parvula makes its home in the harsh and inhospitable Taru Desert. This area was first described by Joseph Thomson (1858-1895), Scottish geologist, naturalist and the namesake of the famous Thomson's Gazelle, as a "Terrible Place" when he visited during his travels. Extending over a vast region of Kenya, Tanzania, and Somalia, the Taru Desert region is an arid bushland covered in "thick Commiphora and Boswellia thornscrub" also called the frankincense tree (a bleak, thorny tree). The Taru itself is a bounded by the Tanzanian border in the south, Maungu in the west, and Mariakani in the east. The only water source for the plant and animal life in the area are the seasonal water holes, as there is not flowing water whatsoever in the area. During the warmest months of the year, from January to March, the average daily temperature can range any where from 19 to 47 degrees Celsius in the shade. For those of us that have trouble with metric conversions, the high temperature in this range is approximately 116 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, because of the extreme nature of this region, animals indigenous here must be able to obtain most of their water through their food, relying on extremely efficient water conservation methods to survive (Rasa, 1985).

Within this harsh environment, the dwarf mongoose must have spaces of refuge from the elements. At one study area, Goss Estates, a private beef farm in South Africa, it was determined that the mongoose favors living in the subterranean termitaria of Odontotermes badius (termites). Seventy percent of the mongoose dens in this study area were subterranean dens surrounded by an open thicket that provided shade for the mongooses (Hiscocks, 1991). The preferred den site for a mongoose pack might just be a function of the availability of the nest sites, because at Goss Estates, the most commonly found potential den site were these subterranean termitaria at 82%. In other study areas, specifically the Sangere river valley (a seasonal River) in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, the dwarf mongoose favored nesting in the ventilation shafts of the above ground termite mounds of Macrotermes subhyalinus. These mounds were the most abundant available den site in the area, as they usually comprised a density of 70 mounds per square kilometer (Rood, 1983). Usually between 10 and 30 termite mounds were present in any one mongoose territory. Interestingly, mongooses in the study areas tended to stay in a particular termite mound only for short amounts of time, rarely staying for more than one night. It was reported that 2/3 of all den residencies lasted for only one night followed by movement to another den the next night (Hiscocks, 1991). Besides providing shelter from the elements and protection from predators, the termite mounds also provide a source of food for the mongooses as they can often unearth insects while digging within the mound.