SMALL INDIAN MONGOOSE/Behaviour, Distribution, Habitat, Size, Weight, IUCN stetus

SMALL INDIAN MONGOOSE

DESCRIPTION: This is a small, olive–brown or dark brown mongoose with golden speckles. It is slender with short legs, and its fur is short and silken. An individual hair, if examined, shows three dark rings and two pale ones. Northern and wetter habitat forms are dark brown with paler paws, while desert forms can have a pale, or even whitish, underside. The ears are small and rounded, the muzzle elongated with a dark nose pad, and the small eyes have a brown iris. Males are larger than females and have a broader head. The taxonomy of the Marsh Mongoose of West Bengal is debated and it may be a subspecies or be accorded full specific status as H. palustris. Either way, it is a smaller creature with black colouring on the muzzle that extends up to the orbital zone unlike in the Small Indian Mongoose.

BEHAVIOUR: Marks actively with their anal pad and has varied vocalizations including a weep, squawk, honk, pant, spit, bark, chuck, scream and growl.

DISTRIBUTION: Northern plains, extending to Kolkata, West Bengal, in the east (sea level to 2,100 m).

HABITAT: Open scrub, hedges, farms, human habitation and even deserts. Marsh Mongoose in swampy marshlands.

 Size: 22–44 cm

IUCN  Status: Least Concern