Herpestes sanguineus

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	MAMMALIA	CARNIVORA	HERPESTIDAE

Scientific Name:

Herpestes sanguineus

Species Authority:

(Rüppell, 1835)

Common Name(s):

English

–

Slender Mongoose

Synonym(s):

Galerella sanguinea (Rüppell, 1836)

Galerella swalius Thomas, 1926

Herpestes swalius Thomas, 1926

Herpestes swalius (Thomas, 1926)

Taxonomic Notes:

Sometimes included in the genus Galerella (e.g., Wozencraft 1993, 2005).

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Least Concern ver 3.1

Year Published:

2008

Date Assessed:

2008-06-30

Assessor(s):

Hoffmann, M.

Reviewer(s):

Duckworth, J.W. (Small Carnivore Red List Authority) and Hoffmann, M. (Global Mammal Assessment Team)

Justification:
Listed as Least Concern as the species is common and widespread in a variety of habitats, there are no major threats, and it is present in several protected areas across the range.

History:

1996

–

Lower Risk/least concern (Baillie and Groombridge 1996)

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	One of the most widely distributed African mongooses, ranging from Senegal in the west to the Red Sea coast in Sudan in the east and south to the Northern Cape in South Africa (Hoffmann and Taylor in press). Stuart (1981) mentions a museum record of this species from Mountain Zebra N.P., but this specimen is not mentioned in the studies of Watson and Dippenaar (1987) and Watson (1990), and their most southerly distribution limit is probably the far eastern part of the Eastern Cape in South Africa (Hoffmann and Taylor in press). Also occurs on Zanzibar (Stuart and Stuart 1998, Goldman and Winther-Hansen 2003). Ranges to 2,700 m asl in the Ethiopian Highlands (Yalden et al. 1996)
Countries:	Native: Angola (Angola); Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Mauritania; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; South Sudan; Sudan; Swaziland; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	Slender Mongooses are among the most common mongooses in Africa. In the Serengeti, population densities between 1975 and 1990 ranged from three to six individuals/km² (Waser et al. 1995).
Population Trend:	Stable

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Present in a wide variety of habitats, but absent from true deserts and in sub-desertic parts of the Sahara such as Air, Niger. They occur on forest fringes, and may penetrate into forests along roads and are sometimes found around villages (Hoffmann and Taylor in press). Slender Mongooses are generalist carnivores, their diet primarily comprising small vertebrates and invertebrates (Hoffmann and Taylor in press).
Systems:	Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology:

Present in a wide variety of habitats, but absent from true deserts and in sub-desertic parts of the Sahara such as Air, Niger. They occur on forest fringes, and may penetrate into forests along roads and are sometimes found around villages (Hoffmann and Taylor in press). Slender Mongooses are generalist carnivores, their diet primarily comprising small vertebrates and invertebrates (Hoffmann and Taylor in press).

Systems:

Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	There are no major threats to the species. They have been recorded in bushmeat markets (e.g., Colyn et al. 2004), and Cunningham and Zondi (1991) listed this species among those used in traditional medicine in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Major Threat(s):

There are no major threats to the species. They have been recorded in bushmeat markets (e.g., Colyn et al. 2004), and Cunningham and Zondi (1991) listed this species among those used in traditional medicine in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Present in numerous protected areas across their range.

Conservation Actions:

Present in numerous protected areas across their range.

Citation:	Hoffmann, M. 2008. Herpestes sanguineus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 30 July 2014.
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