DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Africa. Open grasslands, dry thickets, semi-deserts.
BEHAVIOUR
Mongoose leads a daytime lifestyle, sometimes active at night. It lives in vast burrows, sometimes together with ground squirrels or meerkats. Lives in colonies made up of family groups. The mongoose is known to sunbathe before it sets out to find food.
DIET
Beetles and their larvae, termites, ants, amphibians, small reptiles, birds, rodents and carrion. Mongoose supplements his diet with grass and seeds. Sometimes collects eggs from chicken farms.
REPRODUCTION
Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 2. Gestation lasts 42 to 57 days. The female gives birth to 2 – 4 cubs in a clean burrow, devoid of any litter. Milk feeding lasts up to 10 weeks. The male helps to take care of the offspring.
GOOD TO KNOW
Yellow mongoose can build burrows with a complex system of chambers and corridors with adequate ventilation. A specific microclimate is created in them, independent of the conditions outside.
- Latin name: Cynictis penicillata
- IUCN –Red List – LC – least concern
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