Common dwarf mongoose: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:49, 27 September 2024

Revision as of 04:24, 28 September 2024

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[[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.

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.

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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.

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>