Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2016 | 8(11): 9367–9370

 

 

 

 

Recent records and distribution of the Indian Brown Mongoose Herpestes fuscus Gray, 1837 (Mammalia: Carnivora: Herpestidae) from the southern Western Ghats, India

 

R. Sreehari 1, Sandeep Das 2, M. Gnanakumar 3, K.P. Rajkumar 4, K.A. Sreejith 5, Navaneeth Kishor 6, Dhaneesh Bhaskar 7, P.S. Easa 8 & P.O. Nameer 9

 

1,9 Centre for Wildlife Studies, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, KAU (PO), Thrissur, Kerala 680656, India

1 Current address: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China

2,3,4,5,7,8 Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation Division, Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi, Kerala 680653, India

6 Kalarickal House, Poonjar P.O, Kottayam, Kerala 686581, India

1 sree.forestry@gmail.com, 2 sandeep.koodu@gmail.com, 3 kumargm33@gmail.com, 4 rajkp16@gmail.com, 5 sreejith@kfri.res.in, 6 navaneethk@gmail.com,

7 dhaneeshbhaskar24@gmail.com, 8 easaelephant@yahoo.com, 9 nameer.po@kau.in (corresponding author)

 

 

 

 

 

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/jott.2347.8.11.9367-9370 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:1DFEFB28-25C3-4C9A-B4D6-81B2F3E7ABB5

 

Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of publication: 26 September 2016 (online & print)

 

Manuscript details: Ms # 2347 | Received 30 March 2016 | Final received 06 September 2016 | Finally accepted 08 September 2016

 

Citation: Sreehari, R., S. Das, M. Gnanakumar, K.P. Rajkumar, K.A. Sreejith, N. Kishor, D. Bhaskar, P.S. Easa & P.O. Nameer (2016). Recent records and distribution of the Indian Brown Mongoose Herpestes fuscus Gray, 1837 (Mammalia: Carnivora: Herpestidae) from the southern Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(11): 9367-9370; http://dx.doi.org/10.11609/jott.2347.8.11.9367-9370

 

Copyright: © Sreehari et al. 2016. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use of this article in any medium, reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and the source of publication.

 

Funding: Kerala Agricultural University & Kerala Forest Research Institute.

 

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Chief Wildlife Warden, Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department for granting permission to carry out the study. We are also thankful to the Deputy Director of Periyar Tiger Reserve, Wildlife Wardens of Eravikulam National Park, Shendurney and Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary for logistic support. We also thank Periyar Tiger Conservation Foundation for the whole hearted support and encouragement. The last author thanks the Dean, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University for encouragement and support. We also thank the anonymous reviewers and the subject editor for their critical comments.

 

 

 

 

The family Herpestidae comprises 34 species in the world of which seven species are known from India and four from the Western Ghats (Mudappa 2013; Nameer 2015). The Brown Mongoose Herpestes fuscus is a species with restricted distribution and is seen in the southern Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. Four subspecies of the Brown Mongoose have been recognised by Corbet & Hill (1992). They are H.f. fuscus, H.f. phillipsi, H.f. siccatus and H.f. rubidor, of which the one seen in the Western Ghats is H.f. fuscus, while the remaining three subspecies are confined to Sri Lanka (Gilchrist et al. 2009).

The primary habitat of H.f. fuscus is the evergreen forests, high altitude grasslands-shola forests, and adjoining tea and coffee plantations (Mudappa 2002; Mudappa et al. 2008). In the Western Ghats the Brown Mongoose is seen within the altitude range 492m to 2,032m (Mudappa et al. 2008; Sreehari et al. 2013). Until 03 March 2015, the conservation status of the Brown Mongoose was Vulnerable (Mudappa et al. 2008). However, the recent IUCN Red List revision has down listed the species as Least Concern because of additional sight records of the Brown Mongoose from the Western Ghats, India (Mudappa & Jathanna 2015). We summarize our recent sight records of Brown Mongoose in the southern Western Ghats.

Five independent sightings of the Brown Mongoose were made from the evergreen forest near Pandipath camp shed and Athirumala base camp, in Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary, Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala (Fig. 1, Table 1, Images 1 & 2). One pair was observed frequenting the premises of the camp shed during the day and night feeding from the litter.

A Brown Mongoose was sighted and also camera trapped (Bushnell Trophy Cam infrared camera trap) inside the reed patches of Pandimotta, in Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary, Kollam District, Kerala (Fig. 1, Table 1, Image 3).

The Brown Mongoose was also sighted from different parts of Idukki District in Kerala. That includes, one record near the log house on the old Kodaikanal road inside the Pampadum Shola National Park, two adults with a young at shola forest within Pampadum Shola National Park, one adult with two pups on the forest road near the Uppupaara camp shed of Periyar Tiger Reserve, and one in Pambanar tea plantation near Peermade and one on the Kottayam-Kumily State Highway (Fig.1, Table 1). Mudappa et al. (2008) also reported the sighting of the Brown Mongoose from Peermade.

A Brown Mongoose was sighted from Eravikulam National Park near Poovar camp shed (Fig. 1, Table 1). The Brown Mongoose was earlier camera trapped on 9 December 2012, from the Eravikulam Hut region of the National Park (Sreehari et al. 2013).

Apart from these six recent confirmed records of the Brown Mongoose, there are 11 published reports on the Brown Mongoose from the Western Ghats (Table 2, Fig. 1). We also estimated the area of occupancy for the Brown Mongoose in the Western Ghats using the QGIS (ver. 2.8.1) as 18,612km2.

 

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