Small Asian mongoose

Small Asian mongoose
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Herpestidae
Genus:	Herpestes
Species:	H. javanicus
Binomial name
Herpestes javanicus (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818)
Subspecies
H. j. javanicus H. j. auropunctatus H. j. exilis H. j. orientalis H. j. pallipes H. j. palustris H. j. peninsulae H. j. perakensis H. j. rafflesii H. j. rubifrons H. j. siamensis H. j. tjerapai
Small Asian mongoose range

The small Asian mongoose (Herpestes javanicus) is a species of mongoose found in the wild in South and Southeast Asia. It has also been introduced to Hawaii, the Bahamas, Cuba, Croatia, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, Belize, Honduras, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Suriname, Venezuela, Guyana and Mafia Island.^[2] The western subspecies group is sometimes treated as a separate species, the Indian mongoose or small Indian mongoose (Herpestes palustris).

Description

This species of mongoose is sympatric with Herpestes edwardsii in much of its native range and can be readily distinguished from the latter species by its much smaller size. The body is slender and the head is elongated with a pointed snout. The lengths of the head and body is 509-671mm. The ears are short. They have five toed feet with long claws. The sexes differ in size with males having a wider head and bigger size.^[3]

They use about 12 different vocalizations.^[4]

Distribution and habitat

This species occurs naturally throughout most of southern mainland Asia, from Iraq to China, as well as on the island of Java, at altitudes up to 2200 m. It has also been introduced to dozens of islands in the Pacific and Caribbean (including Saint Lucia, Jamaica and Puerto Rico), as well as a few in the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean, as well as to mainland Venezuela. It is capable of living among fairly dense human populations.

Mongooses live in scrublands and dry forest. On Pacific Islands they live in rainforests as well.

Diet

These mongoose mostly eat insects but are opportunistic feeders and will eat crabs, frogs, spiders, scorpions, snakes, small mammals, and birds and bird eggs.

Behavior and reproduction

Mongooses are mostly solitary although males will sometimes form social groups and share burrows. Pregnancy duration is up to 49 days. A litter can consist of 2–5 young.

Introduction to Hawaii

The 1800s was a huge century for sugar cane, and plantations shot up on many tropical islands including Hawaii, Fiji and Jamaica. With sugar cane came rats, attracted to the sweet plant, which ended up causing crop destruction and loss. Attempts were made to introduce the species in Trinidad in 1870 but this failed.^[5] A subsequent trial with four males and five females from Calcutta however established in Jamaica in 1872. A paper published by W. B. Espeut that praised the results intrigued Hawaiian plantation owners who, in 1883, brought 72 mongooses from Jamaica to the Hamakua Coast on the Big Island. These were raised and their offspring were shipped to plantations on other islands.^[6] Populations that have been introduced to these islands show larger range sizes than in their native ranges.^[7] They also show genetic diversification due to drift and population isolation.^[8]

Only the islands of Lana'i and Kaua'i are thought to be free of mongooses. There are two conflicting stories of why Kaua'i was spared. The first is that the residents of Kaua'i were opposed to having the animals on the island and when the ship carrying the offspring reached Kaua'i, the animals were thrown overboard and drowned. A second story tells that on arriving on Kaua'i one of the mongooses bit a dockworker who, in a fit of anger, threw the caged animals into the harbor to drown.

Introduction to St. Croix

The small Asian mongoose was introduced to St. Croix in 1884, also to prey upon black rats (Rattus rattus) that were ravaging the sugarcane industry. This introduction has had a negative impact on many species of reptiles. For instance, the green iguana (Iguana iguana) has been greatly reduced in number and the St. Croix ground lizard (Ameiva polops) was eliminated from the island of St. Croix (but not from Protestant Cay, Green Cay, Ruth Cay, and Buck Island) before 1962. Ground nesting birds have also been greatly affected. Mongooses have even preyed upon fawns of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).^[9]

Introduction to Okinawa

The mongoose was introduced onto Okinawa Island in 1910 and Amami Ōshima Island in 1979 in an attempt to control the population of venomous snakes (habu (波布?)) and other pests; an invasive species, they have since become pests themselves.^[10][11]

Invasive species

Some reports claim that the mongoose introduction did not have the desired effect of rat control, either in Hawaii or St. Croix. The mongoose hunted birds and bird eggs, threatening many local island species. The mongooses bred prolifically with males becoming sexually mature at 4 months and females producing litters of 2–5 pups a year. On Okinawa, the mongoose is known to carry antimicrobial-resistant strains of E. coli.^[12]

Conversely, other accounts state that the introduced mongooses successfully saved cane fields and significantly reduced the number of rats, mice, and insects.^[13]

Mongooses can carry leptospirosis.^[14]

References

1. Wozencraft, C., Duckworth, J.W., Choudury, A., Muddapa, D., Yonzon, P., Kanchanasaka, B., Jennings A. & Veron, G. (2008). Herpestes javanicus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 22 March 2009. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of least concern.
2. LONG JL 2003. Introduced Mammals of the World: Their History, Distribution and Influence (Cabi Publishing) by John L. Long (ISBN 9780851997483)
3. Nellis, D. W (1989) Herpestes auropunctatus. Mammalian species 342:1–6 PDF
4. Mulligan, B E and D W Nellis (1973) Sounds of the Mongoose Herpestes auropunctatus. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 54(1):320-320
5. Hoagland, D. B., G. R. Horst, and C. W. Kilpatrick (1989) Biogeography and population biology of the mongoose in the West Indies. Pages 611–634 in C. A. Woods, editor. Biogeography of the West Indies. Sand Hill Crane Press, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
6. Espeut, W. B. 1882. On the acclimatization of the Indian mongoose in Jamaica. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1882:712–714.
7. Simberloff, D; T. Dayan; C. Jones & Go Ogura (2000). "Character displacement and release in the small Indian mongoose, Herpestes javanicus" (PDF). Ecology 81 (8): 2086–2099. doi:10.2307/177098.
8. Carl-Gustaf Thulin, Daniel Simberloff, Arijana Barun, Gary McCracken, Michel Pascal & M. Anwarul Islam (2006). "Genetic divergence in the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus), a widely distributed invasive species" (PDF). Molecular Ecology 15 (13): 3947–3956. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.03084.x. PMID 17054495.
9. George A. Seaman & John E. Randall (1962). "The Mongoose as a Predator in the Virgin Islands". Journal of Mammalogy (American Society of Mammalogists) 43 (4): 544–546. doi:10.2307/1376922.
10. "The Small Asian Mongoose introduced to the Island of Okinawa and Amami-Oshima: The Impact and Control Measure." Science Links Japan. Accessed 15 Feb 2009.
11. Fisher, Cindy. "Marines defend Camp Gonsalves from encroaching mongoose." Stars and Stripes. 9 July 2006. Accessed 15 Feb 2009.
12. Nakamura, Ichiro; Obi, Takeshi; Sakemi, Yoko (August 2011). "The Prevalence of Antimicrobial-Resistant Escherichia coli in Two Species of Invasive Alien Mammals in Japan". JOURNAL OF VETERINARY MEDICAL SCIENCE 73 (8): 1067–1070. doi:10.1292/jvms.10-0525. PMID 21467758.
13. Kim, Alice. "Mongooses in Hawaii Newspapers". https://sites.google.com/a/hawaii.edu. University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library. Retrieved 22 December 2015. External link in |website= (help)
14. Ishibashi Osamu ; Ahagon Ayako ; Nakamura Masaji ; Morine Nobuya ; Taira Katsuya ; Ogura Go ; Nakachi Manabu ; Kawashima Yoshitsugu ; Nakada Tadashi (2006) Distribution of Leptospira Spp. on the Small Asian Mongoose and the Roof Rat Inhabiting the Northern Part of Okinawa Island. Japanese Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 11(1):35–41

External links

• Small Indian mongoose photos
• Invasive species database

Further Reading

Tseng, Zhijie; Flynn, John (January 2015). "Convergence analysis of a finite element skull model of Herpestes javanicus (Carnivora, Mammalia): Implications for robust comparative inferences of biomechanical function". Journal of Theoretical Biology 365: 112–148. doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2014.10.002. PMID 25445190.