BANDED MONGOOSE

(Mungos mungo)

Banded mongooses are social, diurnal mammals belonging to the family Herpestidae. They are found in woodlands, grasslands, and rocky terrain throughout southern Africa.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

The banded mongoose has a dark, brown body with gray shoulders and a nearly black head with small, dark eyes and small round ears. They are distinct from other species of mongooses due to the light/dark striped pattern across their hind (Neal, 1970). They possess a head and body measuring 33-40.6 cm long and hind feet measuring 6.7-7.5 cm long. (Kingdon, 1977). These animals typically weigh between 1.8-2.2 kg (Neal, 1970).

Banded mongooses have teeth adapted to a carnivorous diet, as their carnassials are better for crushing than slicing. Each of the five digits on the mongooses’ front feet possess long, curved claws that enable it to scratch and dig for prey (Ladd, 2000).

According to Ladd, banded mongooses do not possess any apparent sexual dimorphism other than the female having three pairs of abdominal mammae (2000). Others have noted that fully grown males are larger than fully grown females (Hinton and Dunn, 1967). Coloration of both males and females is similar. Visual observations in the field reveal that females may have a slightly narrower head than males, but this observation has not yet been proven (Neal, 1970).

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* This web site was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Biology 323, Animal Behavior, at Davidson College in the Spring Semester 2005

Created by Helen Nguyen

henguyen@davidson.edu