Mary Allen
Banded mongooses flit nimbly together in search of food through the African savannah: the predators are quite brave and, in teams, they can even overwhelm poisonous snakes.
Characteristics
What do banded mongooses look like?
Banded mongooses belong to the mongoose family, the feline superfamily, and the order Carnivora. The animals look a bit like martens or meerkats. But they are only closely related to the latter: the much smaller meerkats also belong to the mongoose family.
The banded mongoose’s body is slender and elongated. It measures 30 to 40 centimeters from the snout to the bottom, plus the 18 to 31 centimeter-long tail. The head is cone-shaped, the snout is pointed, the ears are round and quite small. The animals have strong, sharp teeth – no wonder, after all, they are predators.
The fur is rough and colored light gray to dark brown. The tail, front and hind legs are darker. The paws each end in five toes with long, curved claws. The ten to 15 dark horizontal stripes from the middle of the back to the bottom are typical. Because these stripes are somewhat reminiscent of those of zebras, the animals were given the name “zebra mongoose”. Males and females are difficult to tell apart as they look the same and are more or less the same size and weight: an adult animal weighs between 900 grams and 1.9 kilograms.
Where do banded mongooses live?
Banded mongooses are found in sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal across to Ethiopia and Eritrea and south to South Africa. The small predators feel mostly at home in savannas and forests. They avoid deserts and semi-deserts, but also mountains.
Which banded mongoose species are there?
The mongoose family includes around 34 different species. Most live in Africa, but some also in southern Asia and one species even in Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Many of the species are solitary. Only banded mongooses, pygmy mongooses, and meerkats live in groups.
How old do banded mongooses get?
Banded mongooses can live nine to ten years in captivity. That’s a pretty old age for such a small animal. In the wild, however, they rarely survive that long.
Behave
How do banded mongooses live?
Banded mongooses are very social animals. Usually, ten to 20 animals live together, but sometimes up to 40. The groups consist of several males and females and they’re young.
The animals live in underground burrows. Each group inhabits several burrows, sometimes up to 40 different ones. The animals move from one burrow to the other every three to five days. Only when they are raising young do they remain in a burrow. A building consists of a bedroom up to two cubic meters in size and various side chambers and has up to nine entrances.
Banded mongooses usually build their own burrows. Either in the ground, in hollow tree trunks or in termite mounds. They are skilled at digging with their long claws. Sometimes they also move into abandoned burrows of aardvarks.
Banded mongooses are diurnal. In the morning they leave their burrow and go foraging together in their territory. The animals cover two to three kilometers a day. They usually spend the hot midday in the shade, for example under bushes. As soon as it gets dark, they return to their burrow.
Not much is known about the social behavior within the groups. Presumably, the females lead the groups and the males have to submit. But there is no clear hierarchy – so there is not a single female in charge. Animals in a group groom each other’s fur and often all mark each other with fluid from their anal glands. So it is clear who belongs to the family.
The groups stick together: the animals raise the young together, warn each other of dangers and take turns keeping watch. To do this, they stand up on their hind legs and look around attentively – similar to meerkats. In the event of danger, they emit a shrill whistle, after which they all disappear in a flash into a hiding place or in a burrow.
However, as compatible and social as the animals are within their group, they react as aggressively when two groups meet: if the groups are about the same size, the animals sometimes fight so violently that some even die. Only when a group is significantly smaller and inferior will it retreat without a fight. Banded mongooses are not particularly shy and sometimes stay close to humans in villages and towns.
Banded mongoose friends and foes
Especially young banded mongooses have many enemies, for example, large snakes like the rock python. But predators such as leopards or birds of prey also hunt them.
How do banded mongooses reproduce?
There is no fixed breeding season. In arid areas where survival is more difficult for the animals, the females give birth only twice a year. In regions with a rainy season, they give birth to offspring up to five times a year. Before mating, the males compete for the females. The male that prevails then tries to drive away his opponents. The females mate with the strongest male. But as soon as this one is not careful, they also mate with its competitors.
After 60 to 70 days, the females give birth to one to six young at a time – all females in a group more or less at the same time. The little ones weigh 20 to 50 grams and already have a thick coat, but are still blind. They only open their eyes after about ten days. Raising young is teamwork for banded mongooses: each female suckles her own young, but also those of other females. When the animals go in search of food, one to three adult animals stay behind with the offspring and look after the little ones.
When the young are about four weeks old, they go on forays outside the burrow – but always with an adult animal to protect them. It is mostly males who take on this task of babysitting – but it does not have to be the fathers. The animals also learn from the babysitters what they can eat and where to find suitable food. The animals become sexually mature at the age of one to two years. However, only about half of the young reach this age, and many fall victim to their natural enemies before then.
How do banded mongooses communicate?
Banded mongooses communicate with various chirping, growling, and also shrill sounds. Some sounds serve to keep in touch with each other. With others, they lure the group members over when they have discovered something interesting. A bright whistle serves as a warning call.
Care
What do banded mongooses eat?
Banded mongooses live almost exclusively on animal food. These primarily include insects such as beetles, centipedes, and their larvae, but also other small animals such as frogs, mice, and lizards. Even snakes can overwhelm the fast, agile mongooses. Teamwork is required here: you surround the snake and attack together. However, they are not immune to snake venom, although this is often claimed.
When looking for food, they usually run around quickly in a zigzag course. In order to get hold of hard food or eggs, the animals use a clever tactic: they crack the prey by throwing it at a stone with their front paws – or vice versa by throwing the stone at the prey. Sometimes they also throw an egg under their belly between their hind legs onto a rock or against a trunk until it breaks.