Selous's mongoose (''Paracynictis selousi'') 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

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

. It is the only member of the genus ''Paracynictis''.

Taxonomy

Four subspecies were described: *''Paracynictis selousi bechuanae'' *''Paracynictis selousi ngamiensis'' *''Paracynictis selousi selousi'' *''Paracynictis selousi sengaani''

Distribution and habitat

Selous's mongoose is endemic to Southern Africa. Its range includes

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

, and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

.Nowak, Ronald M. Walker’s Mammals of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991

Physical description

The Selous's mongoose has a total length of 63–90 cm and a tail length of 28–43 cm. It weighs about 1.4-2.0 kg.Stuart, Chris and Tilde. The Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2007 The body of the mongoose ranges from pale speckled grey to tawny grey with a pale underside, while the legs are brown or black.Stuart, Chris and Tilde The tail of the mongoose is white at the tip, making it identifiable from the

white-tailed mongoose The white-tailed mongoose (''Ichneumia albicauda'') is a species in the mongoose family Herpestidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Ichneumia''. Taxonomy ''Herpestes albicaudus'' was the scientific name proposed by Georges Cuvier in 1829 ...

, which has a tail that is ¾ white. The Selous's mongoose is also smaller and more slender than the white-tailed mongoose. The mongoose has four digits on each limb and long, slightly curved claws that are associated with digging. The main difference between the sexes is that the female Selous's mongoose has three pairs of nipples on her underside, while the male does not.

Behavior

The Selous's mongoose is a nocturnal species, but has been observed above ground during the day.Nowak, Ronald M. Walker’s Mammals of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. Although usually solitary, mongooses will sometimes form pairs, and it is not uncommon to see females with young. The Selous's mongoose digs its own burrows, but may opportunistically use those of other animals.Stuart, Chris and Tilde. The Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2007. The Selous's mongoose can defend itself by expelling strong-smelling secretion from its anal gland. Its white-tipped tail may be an indication of this ability. The Selous's mongoose's primary source of food is

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

. It also feeds on small rodents, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. The front claws of the mongoose are ideally adapted to search for subterranean

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

larvae. The species will dig through tufts of grass or leaf litter to find food.Mitchell, C. “Selous’ Mongoose.” The Ultimate Field Guide for Mammals of Southern Africa. Litters are usually made up of two to four young, which are born from August to March.

Habitat

The Selous's mongoose lives primarily in open scrub and

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

. It does not inhabit either forests or arid areas. It lives in labyrinthine, burrows of its own construction.

Conservation status and threats

The Selous's mongoose is classified as being of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

. There are no known threats to the species, and the population is widely distributed.

Etymology of the name

The mongoose is named after

Frederick Selous Frederick Courteney Selous, DSO (; 31 December 1851 – 4 January 1917) was a British explorer, officer, professional hunter, and conservationist, famous for his exploits in Southeast Africa. His real-life adventures inspired Sir Henry R ...

. Both Selous's mongoose and Selous’ mongoose are accepted spellings of the name.Selous’ Mongoose. The Animal Files. Web. Accessed March 2015 The Selous's mongoose has other names in native African language, as follows: Afrikaans: Kleinwitstertmuishond Zulu: Nsengane Tswana: Kgano Shona: Jerenyenje.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q944417 Selous's mongoose Mammals of Angola Mammals of Botswana Mammals of Malawi Mammals of Mozambique Mammals of Namibia Mammals of South Africa Mammals of Zambia Mammals of Zimbabwe Fauna of Southern Africa Selous's mongoose Selous's mongoose