Carnivores: Aardwolf African Wild Cat African Wild Dog Banded Mongoose Bat Eared Fox Black-backed Jackal Brown Hyena Cape Clawless Otter Cape Fox Caracal Cheetah Civet Dhole Large Spotted Genet Golden Jackal Honey badger Jaguar Leopard African Lion Asiatic Lion Sand Cat Serval Side Striped Jackal Snow Leopard Spotted Hyena Striped Hyena Suricate (Meercat) Tiger White Tailed Mongoose Yellow Mongoose
The white tailed mongoose is one of the larger mongoose species, and is around 100-120cm long (including the tail which is between 35 and 50cm in length). The white tailed mongoose stands around 25cm high at the shoulder, and weighs up to around 5Kg for the males and 4Kg for the females.
The White Tailed Mongoose is a nocturnal animal that is usually solitary but is sometimes found in small groups. The white tailed mongoose has home ranges that vary considerably in size - in Kenya home ranges of 8Km2 have been recorded whereas in the Serengeti, they are typically between 40 and 120 hectares. The home range boundaries are marked with scent.
When they feel threatened, white tailed mongoose stand with their tail raised and fluffed out. Although they are capable of runing quickly over short distances they are unable to outrun most of their predators so rely on stink glands for defence. The white tailed mongoose is a poor digger so it mainly relies on finding vacant burrows that have been dug by other species.
White Tailed Mongooses eat insects - especially termites, frogs, mice, reptiles including snakes, birds, earthworms and occasionally fruit.
Very little information is available on the reproduction of the white tailed mongoose, but it is believed to give birth to between 1 and 4 young in a litter after a gestation period of unknown length.
White tailed mongooses are found in woodland and savannah areas across a large part of Africa.
White Tailed Mongoose are found in Namibia's Caprivi strip, Eastern South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and across as far as Gambia in West Africa.
This photo shows the spoor (paw prints) left by a white tailed mongoose.
Photo © Tanya Trevor Saunders
© Predator Conservation Trust.
