The common dwarf mongoose (''Helogale parvula'') is a

mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to so ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

native to Angola, northern Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, Zambia and East Africa. It is part of the genus ''

Helogale ''Helogale'' is a genus of the mongoose family (Herpestidae). It consists of two species and 12 subspecies: Extant Species The helogales are the smallest species of mongooses and both are endemic to Africa. The distribution of the Ethiopian ...

'', along with the Ethiopian dwarf mongoose.

Characteristics

The common dwarf mongoose has soft fur ranging from yellowish red to very dark brown. It has a large pointed head, small ears, a long tail, short limbs and long claws. With a body length of and a weight of , it is Africa's smallest member of the order Carnivora.

Distribution and habitat

The common dwarf mongoose ranges from

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

to southern

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo ...

, from Eritrea and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

to the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in the Republic of South Africa. The common dwarf mongoose inhabits primarily dry

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

, open forests and

bushland In Australia, bushland is a blanket term for land which supports remnant vegetation or land which is disturbed but still retains a predominance of the original floristics and structure. Human survival in bushland has a whole mythology evolving ...

up to an elevation of . It is especially common in areas with many

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...

mounds, its favorite sleeping place. It avoids dense forests and deserts.

Subspecies

*''Helogale parvula parvula'' *''Helogale parvula ivori'' *''Helogale parvula mimetra'' *''Helogale parvula nero'' *''Helogale parvula ruficeps'' *''Helogale parvula undulatus'' *''Helogale parvula varia''

Behaviour

The common dwarf mongoose is a

diurnal animal Diurnality is a form of plant and animal behavior characterized by activity during daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The common adjective used for daytime activity is "diurnal". The timing of activity by an animal d ...

. 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. 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 A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground ( pit latrine), or ...

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 October and April, raising up to three litters. 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. 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 mutualistic relationship has evolved between dwarf mongooses and hornbills, in which hornbills seek out the mongooses in order for the two species to forage together, and to warn each other of nearby raptors and other predators.Anne O, Rasa E (1983). "Dwarf mongoose and hornbill mutualism in the Taru desert, Kenya." ''Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology'' 12 (3): 181–90.

Diet

The diet of the common dwarf mongoose consists of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s (mainly beetle larvae,

s, grasshoppers and

crickets Crickets are orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets, and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms,Imms AD, rev. Richards OW & Davies RG (1970) ''A General Textbook of Entomology'' 9th Ed. Methuen 8 ...

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always en ...

s, small lizards, snakes, small

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s, and

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

s, and is supplemented very occasionally with berries.

Publications

* Anne Rasa: ''Mongoose Watch: A Family Observed'', John Murray, 1985, . * Anne Rasa: ''Intra-familial sexual repression in the dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula)'' in ''Naturwissenschaften'', Volume 60, Number 6, p. 303-304, Springer, 1973.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q743563 common dwarf mongoose Mammals of Sub-Saharan Africa Mammals of Angola Mammals of Botswana Mammals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mammals of Ethiopia Mammals of West Africa Mammals of Kenya Mammals of Malawi Mammals of Mozambique Mammals of Namibia Mammals of Somalia Mammals of South Africa Mammals of South Sudan Mammals of Eswatini Mammals of Tanzania Mammals of Uganda Mammals of Zambia common dwarf mongoose