Common dwarf mongoose: Difference between revisions

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| authority = [[Carl Jakob Sundevall|Sundevall]], 1847

| range_map = Common Dwarf Mongoose area.png

| range_map_caption = Common dwarf mongoose{{legend0|#807a27| native range}}

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The '''common dwarf mongoose''' ('''''Helogale parvula''''') is a [[mongoose]] [[species]] native to Angola, northern [[Botswana]], northern Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Zambia and [[East Africa]].<ref name=iucn/> It is part of the genus ''[[Helogale]]'', along with the [[Ethiopian dwarf mongoose]].

==Characteristics==

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==Distribution and habitat==

[[File:Dwarf mongoose1.jpg|thumb|Common dwarf mongoose in the [[Sabi Sand Game Reserve]], South Africa]]

The common dwarf mongoose ranges from [[East Africa|East]] to southern [[Central Africa]], from [[Eritrea]] and [[Ethiopia]] to the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the Republic of South Africa. It inhabits primarily dry [[grassland]], open forests and [[bushland]] up to an elevation of {{cvt|2000|m}}. It is especially common in areas with many [[termite]] mounds, its favorite sleeping place. It avoids dense forests and deserts.<ref name="iucn" />

==Subspecies==

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==Behaviour and ecology==

[[File:Helogale_parvula,_Serengeti.jpg|thumb|right|In the Serengeti]]

{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2021}}

The common dwarf mongoose is a [[diurnal animal]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Dwarf mongoose |url=https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/dwarf-mongoose |access-date=2024-09-27 |website=Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute |language=en}}</ref> It is a highly social species that lives in extended family groups of two to thirty animals. There is a strict [[hierarchy]] among same-sexed animals within a group, headed by the dominant pair (normally the oldest group members). All group members cooperate in helping to rear the pups and in guarding the group from predators.

The common dwarf mongoose is a [[diurnal animal]].<ref name="Smithsonian"/> Dwarf mongooses are territorial, and each group uses an area of approximately 30-60 hectares (depending on the type of habitat). They sleep at night in disused termite mounds, although they occasionally use piles of stones, hollow trees, etc. The mongooses mark their territory with anal gland and cheek gland secretions and [[latrine (animal)|latrine]]s. Territories often overlap slightly, which can lead to confrontations between different groups, with the larger group tending to win.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

Young mongooses attain sexual maturity by one year of age but delay dispersal, with males usually emigrating (in the company of their brothers) at 2–3 years old. Dispersing males may join other established groups, either as subordinates or by ousting the resident males, or they may found new groups with unrelated dispersing females. In contrast, females normally remain in their home group for life, queuing for the dominant position. They will, however, emigrate to found a new group if they lose their place in the hierarchy to a younger sister.

Dwarf mongooses are territorial, and each group uses an area of approximately 30-60 hectares (depending on the type of habitat). They sleep at night in disused termite mounds, although they occasionally use piles of stones, hollow trees, etc. The mongooses mark their territory with anal gland and cheek gland secretions and [[latrine (animal)|latrine]]s. Territories often overlap slightly, which can lead to confrontations between different groups, with the larger group tending to win.

The main predators of dwarf mongoose are predatory birds such as raptors and [[marabou stork]]s, reptiles such as snakes and [[monitor lizard]]s, and other carnivorous mammals such as jackals and larger mongooses.<ref name="Smithsonian"/>

Dwarf mongooses tend to breed during the wet season, between November and May, raising up to three litters.<ref name=":0" /> Usually only the group's dominant female becomes pregnant, and she is responsible for 80% of the pups reared by the group. If conditions are good, subordinate females may also become pregnant, but their pups rarely survive. After the gestation period of 53 days, 4-6 young are born.<ref name=":0" /> They remain below ground within a termite mound for the first 2–3 weeks. Normally one or more members of the group stay behind to babysit while the group goes foraging. Subordinate females often produce milk to feed the dominant female's pups. At 4 weeks of age the pups begin accompanying the group. All group members help to provide them with prey items until they are around 10 weeks old.

A [[Mutualism (biology)|mutualistic relationship]] has evolved between the dwarf mongoose and [[hornbill]]s, in which hornbills seek out the mongooses in order for the two species to forage together, and to warn each other of nearby [[birds of prey]] and other predators.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Rasa, A.O.E. |year=1983 |title=Dwarf mongoose and hornbill mutualism in the Taru desert, Kenya |journal=Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=181–190 |doi=10.1007/BF00290770 |jstor=4599578 |bibcode=1983BEcoS..12..181A |s2cid=22367357 |url=}}</ref>

===Social structure===

It is a social animal, with an average group size of twelve individuals,<ref name="Smithsonian"/><ref name="Rasa 1973"/> but larger packs can exceed thirty members. Packs are organized around a strict hierarchy, with females holding higher positions than males within each age class. Each pack is structured around a single breeding pair, the breeding female of which holds the highest social position while her mate holds the second highest. Younger members and immigrant individuals do not typically reproduce, but instead care for and feed juveniles. Other females may reproduce during good conditions, but their litters rarely survive to adulthood.<ref name="Smithsonian">{{Cite web |title=Dwarf mongoose |url=https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/dwarf-mongoose |access-date=25 August 2025 |website=Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute |language=en}}</ref> The breeding pair of a dwarf mongoose colony is given priority access to food and protection from subordinate members, and rarely has to defend against predators.<ref name="williams">{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=S. A. |last2=Shattuck |first2=M. R. |year=2015 |title=Ecology, longevity and naked mole-rats: confounding effects of sociality? |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences |volume=282 |issue=1802 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2014.1664 |pmid=25631992 |pages=20141664 |pmc=4344137}}</ref> The breeding male is most often responsible for suppressing reproduction among other colony members by confronting them directly when this is attempted, typically with a low-intensity threat posture, which causes the pair to cease their attempted reproduction and retreat. The female of the pair often grooms the alpha male afterwards as an appeasement behavior.<ref name="Rasa 1973">{{cite journal |last=Rasa |first1=Anne |date=1973 |title=Intra-familial sexual repression in the dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula) |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_naturwissenschaften_1973-06_60_6/page/303 |journal=[[The Science of Nature]] |volume=60 |issue=6 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |pages=303-304 |doi= |access-date=25 August 2025}}</ref>

Dispersal and the funding of new packs are relatively rare, and group splits occur most often when the dominant female dies. Non-breeders occasionally transfer between different packs, typically at their second or third year of age and during the rain season, which can result in their obtaining a shorter "queue" for becoming part of the breeding pair of the new pack.<ref name="Smithsonian"/>

===Reproduction and life history===

Dwarf mongooses tend to breed during the wet season, between November and May, where the breeding female may produce up to three litters, containing an average of four pups each after a gestation period of 49 to 53 days. The pups nurse for a period of 45 days, during which they may be nursed by subordinate females. Juveniles begin foraging alongside adults at around six weeks of age, and reach sexual maturity at three years of life. Their maximum lifespan is around 18 years.<ref name="Smithsonian"/>

===Diet===

The primary diet of the common dwarf mongoose consists of invertebrates, chiefly [[insect]]s (mainlysuch as beetle larvae, [[termite]]s, [[grasshopper]]s and [[Cricket (insect)|crickets]]), alongside [[spider]]s, and [[scorpion]]s,. smallSecondary [[lizard]]s,food snakes,sources include small [[bird]]svertebrates, and [[rodent]]seggs, and is supplemented very occasionally with berriesfruit.<ref name=":0Smithsonian" />

==Publications==

* [[Anne Rasa]]: ''Mongoose Watch: A Family Observed'', John Murray, 1985, {{ISBN|0-719-54240-5}}.

* Anne Rasa: ''"[https://archive.org/details/sim_naturwissenschaften_1973-06_60_6/page/303 Intra-familial sexual repression in the dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula)]''" in ''Die Naturwissenschaften'', Volume 60, Number 6, p.&nbsp;303-304, Springer, 1973.

==References==