The Sunda stink badger (''Mydaus javanensis''), also called the Javan stink badger, teledu, Malay stink badger, Malay badger, Indonesian stink badger and Sunda skunk, is a mammal native to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

. Despite the common name, stink badgers are not closely related to true

badger Badgers are short-legged omnivores in the family Mustelidae (which also includes the otters, wolverines, martens, minks, polecats, weasels, and ferrets). Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by ...

s, and are, instead, Old World relatives of the

skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gin ...

Description

Sunda stink badgers have a similar body shape to badgers, but are significantly smaller, being in total length, and weighing from . Their fur is coarse, and black or very dark brown over most of the body, with a white stripe running from the top of the head to the tail. The tail is short, measuring about , and is covered in pure white fur. The width of the stripe varies considerably between individuals, but is usually narrow, and may be discontinuous. As the name indicates, stink badgers have an anal

scent gland Scent gland are exocrine glands found in most mammals. They produce semi-viscous secretions which contain pheromones and other semiochemical compounds. These odor-messengers indicate information such as status, territorial marking, mood, and s ...

that secretes a foul-smelling substance, which the animal can spray up to . Females have six

teat A teat is the projection from the mammary glands of mammals from which milk flows or is ejected for the purpose of feeding young. In many mammals the teat projects from the udder. The number of teats varies by mammalian species and often corr ...

Distribution and habitat

Named for the

Sunda Islands The Sunda Islands ( id, Kepulauan Sunda) are a archipelago , group of islands in the Malay Archipelago.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). wikisource:1911_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Sunda_Islands, "Sunda Islands" . ''Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Ed ...

, Sunda stink badgers are found in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

, and the northern

Natuna Islands ''(Sacred Ocean, Fortune Land) , image_map = , pushpin_map = Indonesia Riau Islands#Indonesia Sumatra#Indonesia#South China Sea , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Riau Islands##Location in Sumatra##Location in I ...

. Sunda stink badgers can be found across a wide variety of habitats, including forest edges or areas of

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. I ...

. Historically, they were thought to be restricted to high elevations of over , and only rarely on lowland plains. This is now known not to be true, and more recent surveys have shown Sunda stink-badgers are often found in elevations well below 2000m.Samejima H, Meijaard E, Duckworth JW, Yasuma S, Hearn AJ, Ross J, Mohamed A, Alfred R, Bernard H, Boonratana R, Pilgrim JD, Eaton J, Belant JL, Kramer-Schadt S, Semiadi G, and Wilting A. (2016). Predicted distribution of the Sunda stink-badger Mydaus javanensis (Mammalia: Carnivora: Mephitidae) on Borne
https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/nus/images/data/raffles_bulletin_of_zoology/supplement33/S33rbz061-070.pdf
Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 33: 61-70 Sunda stink badgers have been reported as low as above sea level on Java, at relatively low elevations in

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

., and have even been recorded at elevations as low as 10m in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplains, Sabah, Borneo at seemingly high densities.Evans MN., Vickers SH., Abu-Bakar MS and Goossens B. (2016)
Carnivores of the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Sabah, Borneo, including a new locality for the Otter Civet Cynogale bennettii
Small Carnivore Conservation 54: 26–38 Three subspecies are recognized: * ''M. j. javanensis'' (Sunda stink badger) - Java and Sumatra * ''M. j. lucifer'' (Bornean stink badger) - Borneo * ''M. j. ollula'' (Natuna Islands stink badger) - northern Natuna Islands

Behaviour and ecology

The Sunda stink badger is omnivorous and highly nocturnal. The animal portion of its diet consists of invertebrates, eggs, and

carrion Carrion () is the decaying flesh of dead animals, including human flesh. Overview Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...

. At night, it roots through soft soil using its snout and claws searching for worms and ground-dwelling insects. During the day, it sleeps in short burrows, less than in length, which it either digs or takes over from other animals, such as porcupines. Females have been reported to give birth to litters of two or three young.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q570548 Stink badgers Carnivorans of Malaysia Mammals of Brunei Mammals of Indonesia Mammals of Borneo Fauna of Sumatra Mammals described in 1820 Aposematic species