Quick stats of the Banded Mongoose

• Diet: - Carnivore
• Overall length: - 0.59 m
• Weight: - Male - 1.6 kg
• Weight: - Female - 1.6 kg
• Lifespan - 11 years

Description

This fairly small, hyperactive mongoose is easily recognized by the series of blackish-brown bands which run across its back.

Active by day, banded mongooses are common in most areas where there is a good cover of trees and grass, which protects them from eagles and other predatory birds. They live in communal groups of up to 50 or more individuals.

They consume a wide range of edible items, catching insects, snails, scorpions, centipedes, millipedes and mice, and will happily chew away at fruit when the opportunity arises. They also eat eggs by smashing the shell against a rock and lapping up its contents.

At night, the entire colony holes up in a disused termite mound pitted with tunnels and underground burrows, or occasionally in rocky crevices and jumbled heaps of boulders. If frightened during the day they run for the protection of their holes or crevices without hesitation.

Females give birth to 2-8 young after a gestation period of 2 months.

Other Names for the Banded Mongoose

• Gebande Muishond
• Zebra Mongoose

Distribution

Distribution map of the Banded Mongoose

Taxonomy of the Banded Mongoose

• Order - Carnivora
• Family - Herpestidae
• Sub Family - Herpestinae
• Genus - Mungos
• Species - Mungos mungo