habitat_narrative
Terrestrial
Slender Mongooses are present in a wide variety of habitats, but absent from true deserts, such as the Namib Desert, and in sub-desertic parts of the Sahara such as Aïr, Niger. They occur on forest fringes, and may penetrate into forests along roads and are sometimes found around villages (Hoffmann & Taylor 2013). They are also absent from the greater parts of the karroid regions of the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape. This is speculated to be as a result of competitive exclusion by the Cape Grey Mongoose (H. pulverulentus; Skinner & Chimimba 2005). There is, however, some range overlap between these species at the perimeter of the Slender Mongooseâs range (Skinner & Chimimba 2005). They occur in open habitats, as long as there is some cover (Ramesh & Downs 2014), such as hollow logs, rocks, fallen trees or disused Aardvark (Orycteropus afer) holes. They have also been recorded among rocky outcrops (Rautenbach 1982; Rood 1989; E. Do Linh San pers. obs. 2015â2016). In farmland landscapes within the Drakensberg Midlands, KwaZulu-Natal, the detection likelihood of this species with camera-traps was positively correlated with bushland cover and human abundance; possibly due to a reduction in natural predator density and increased food and water resources (Ramesh & Downs 2014).Slender Mongooses are diurnal, and as generalist carnivores, their diet comprises small vertebrates (rodents, insectivores, reptiles, amphibians, birds), invertebrates (insects, spiders, millipedes) and fruit (Maddock 1988; Graw & Manser 2017). While this species is largely terrestrial, it is more arboreal than most other mongoose species (Hoffmann & Taylor 2013). Although individuals are predominantly solitary, occasionally up to four â related and unrelated â males form loose coalitions within the same home range, which overlaps with the home ranges of several females (Rood 1989; Waser et al. 1994; Graw et al. 2016). In the Serengeti, male home ranges vary from 70â80 ha, while females occupy smaller ranges of 30â50 ha (Rood & Waser 1978). However, home range sizes are larger in the Kalahari (South Africa), with 183 ha on average for males and 106 ha for females (B. Graw & M.B. Manser unpubl. data).
Young are born during the wet, summer months (OctoberâMarch), which coincides with a peak in the abundance of insectivorous prey. Females regularly begin reproducing at 1 year of age (Waser et al. 1995) and after a gestation period of 60â70 days, one to four pups are born (Taylor 1969, 1975; Graw & Manser 2017). One to two litters are produced per reproductive season, with on average 130 days between the birth of each litter (Graw & Manser 2017). Pups are born in hollow trees or rock crevices, emerge for the first time between 4â6 weeks, and start foraging with their mother 6â9 weeks after their birth. Weaning likely takes place at the age of 7â12 weeks, and juveniles become independent when 3â5 months old (Graw & Manser 2017). Dispersing sex and dispersal age and distances vary greatly. In the Serengeti, juveniles typically disperse within their first 6 months with males dispersing earlier and further than females (Rood & Waser 1978; Waser et al. 1994). In contrast, in a study conducted in the Kalahari, none of the females remained in their natal range past the age of 10 months, while genetic analyses demonstrated that 93% of males were philopatric, and anecdotal field evidence suggested that males disperse less often and possibly later but further than females (Graw et al. 2016). In the Tanzanian study juveniles had a survival rate of 0.63, whereas adults of both sexes had higher survival rates, namely 0.82 for males and 0.79 for females (Waser et al. 1995). Similar results were obtained in the Kalahari (Graw & Manser 2017). In the wild, both male and female Slender Mongooses have a maximum lifespan of 8â10 years (Waser et al. 1995; Graw & Manser 2017).
Ecosystem and cultural services: This species may be a valuable predator of agricultural pest species, such as grasshoppers, termites, beetles and possibly rodents. Further research is required to quantify this effect.
