Common Dwarf Mongoose

MammalAfrica

Jun 24

Helogale parvula

The dwarf mongoose — Africa's smallest carnivore — uses old termite mounds as shelter, living with a family of up to 30 individuals. When foraging for insects, these mongooses work together with hornbills; the mongooses flush out insects and the hornbills watch for aerial dangers.

A Miniature Mongoose in a Dangerous Land

In a land of lumbering giants and fearsome predators, the small need to stick together. And the common dwarf mongoose is the smallest of its kind ¹ — measuring 18 to 28 cm (7 to 11 in) from nose to tail — about the size of a squirrel. It has a pointy face, with a short and sharp snout, discerning brown eyes, and small rounded ears. A peppery coat of brown and grey fur covers its stocky little body and long tail. Its home is the savannahs, woods, and scrublands of Sub-Saharan Africa; from Somalia and Ethiopia in the east to Angola in the west, and down to eastern South Africa.

Mongoose Politics

While most mongoose species tend to be solitary, the common dwarf mongoose relies on the safety of a group. A family of dwarf mongooses, called a troop or a pack, consists of between 8 and 30 individuals led by a dominant pair — typically the oldest male and female. The two leaders divide their duties. The dominant male is the protector; he stands on high ground, watching for dangers, and alerts his pack with a warning call ("Chirrup!") if he spots any. The female, meanwhile, is the leader; she decides the movements of the pack, exactly where they go and when. The rest of the pack organises its hierarchy based on age, but does so in the obverse of what would be expected. The younger mongooses hold a higher rank over their elders, ensuring that they receive plentiful food. But, within age groups, it seems that females always dominate.

The dominant pair, alongside leading and protecting their pack, are also responsible for populating it, since they are the pack's only breeding couple. And they are very productive. Each year, the dominant female has two or three litters, each consisting of 1 to 6 pups. The rest of the pack members serve as babysitters — carrying the young, cleaning them, and bringing them extra food — until, at about 6 months old, the young mongooses can service themselves. The offspring usually remain in the group they were born into, although a few ambitious individuals, usually at two to three years of age, may try to immigrate to a different pack in hopes of moving up the "queue" of dominance. This can be a tricky endeavour, however, since neighbouring packs are quite hostile, with larger packs often evicting smaller ones during confrontations. A pack will only completely splinter when the dominant matriarch dies, forming two groups with two new dominant pairs. Such are the ways of dwarf mongoose politics.

A dwarf mongoose keeps watch for danger atop a termite mound.

A Nomadic Life

Packs of dwarf mongooses are nomadic, continuously roaming a territory of about 30 hectares (75 acres). For a mongoose, a quality territory means many termite mounds — typically twenty or more. These hulking fortresses of mud and dung, potentially crawling with millions of termites, are an abundant source of food. When left abandoned by their original occupants, the mounds serve as lookout posts for the male mongooses and as temporary shelters where the pack can den for a few days. Dwarf mongooses are primarily insectivorous, but if they're not picking through termite mounds for grub, they're likely foraging among rocks and bushes for small rodents, reptiles, and eggs, if they can find some on the ground — dwarf mongooses aren't strong climbers.

It's evident that the dwarf mongoose's communal, female-led, and primarily insectivorous lifestyle is effective, for, while the common dwarf mongoose is the smallest carnivore in Africa, it is also one of the most abundant. However, as this tiny hunter chases its own prey, it must be vigilant not to fall prey to countless larger predators. Just about everything wants to eat a dwarf mongoose. From reptiles like snakes and monitor lizards, to birds like raptors and marabou storks, and other mammals, such as jackals, and even larger mongooses such as the Egyptian mongoose. To protect itself from so many dangers, the dwarf mongoose has cultivated an unlikely foraging friendship

An Alarming Partnership

A pack of dwarf mongooses sleep snuggly inside their den, built into a towering old termite mound. As dawn pours golden light over the savannah, the mongooses slowly begin to stir. Their peace is abruptly disturbed by a loud clucking ("kokok-kokok") coming from outside their termite mound den. The mongoose pack emerge from their nocturnal shelter as the sun rises further above the horizon, bathing their furry bodies in warmth and light. Waiting impatiently just outside their den is a decidedly odd-looking bird with a giant decurved bill, not unlike that of a toucan. This was their insistent alarm clock; a bird known as a hornbill. It hops along the ground and clucks once more to convey its annoyance at the mongooses, for the hornbill has been loitering around their mound throughout the night — waiting for its foraging companions to finally wake up.

A dwarf mongoose with its avian partner — an eastern yellow-billed hornbill.

Dwarf mongooses have a mutualistic relationship ² — in which two organisms of different species work together and both benefit — with hornbills. ³ The big-billed birds arrive at a dwarf mongoose den at night and then wait until their furry partners emerge in the morning. If the mongooses take too long, the hornbills prompt them with a few wake-up calls, until the mongooses come out to forage. A bustling pack of mongooses — stamping, scratching, and digging at the ground — flush out a lot of insects in their search for food. As the critters escape the jaws of a mongoose, they are snatched up in the beak of a hornbill. In return for easy eating, the hornbills keep watch of the skies for winged dangers. Birds of prey are some of the dwarf mongoose's most dangerous predators, with raptors like the ominously named and severe-looking pale chanting goshawk specialising in killing small mammals. If the mongoose lookouts miss the soaring grey hunter, a hornbill will spot it — hornbills are very cautious of aerial predators and react quickly to any movements in the sky, thus acting as effective early warnings for the foraging mongooses. The mongooses are so reliant on these avian watchmen that if a hornbill doesn't arrive at their mound in the morning, the mongooses may choose not to go out foraging that day.

A white-tailed mongoose — the largest species of mongoose.

¹ There are some 34 mongoose species — belonging to the family Herpestidae — spread mostly across Africa, and sparsely across Southern Europe and Asia. The largest is the white-tailed mongoose (Ichneumia albicauda), ranging throughout much of Sub-Saharan Africa apart from rainforests and deserts, and measuring up to 104 cm (41 in), excluding its fluffy white, feather-duster-like tail. The smallest is the common dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula). A close second is its sister species; the Ethiopian/Somali dwarf mongoose (Helogale hirtula), the only other member of the Helogale genus. Other notable members include the meerkat (Suricata suricatta), which is indeed a mongoose, and the small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata). The latter is perhaps one of the most widespread mongooses — with disastrous consequences. It is invasive to many isolated islands, including the Hawaiian Islands, Fiji, Jamaica, and many other Caribbean and Pacific islands. It was repeatedly introduced to control invasive rats, but being an opportunistic predator, the mongoose went on to devour the local residents (who often had no defences against such a voracious predator).

A red-billed oxpecker clings to the fur of an African buffalo with its sharp claws.

² Stories of partnerships between different species (known as mutualism) in the wild are quite popular. It's not hard to see why; there's just something wholesome about two very different animals working together to the benefit of both partners — a stark counterpoint to the typically violent and harsh reality of inter-species relationships in the wild. The plains of Africa have many such examples of partnerships and, as attested by dwarf mongooses and hornbills, birds and mammals make an effective team.

Large, hoofed mammals — buffalo, zebras, giraffes, etc — accrue countless parasites over their lifetimes that they cannot rid themselves of. Oxpeckers flock to them, clinging to their large bodies with sharp claws as they forage amongst their fur, plucking and eating their parasites (conversely, oxpeckers have been observed acting parasitically themselves; sometimes opening up wounds to drink the blood that pours out — this is likely how the vampire finch of the Galápagos evolved; going from a parasite eater, to a blood-drinking parasite). Long-legged cattle egrets perch atop buffalo, feasting on insects that the lumbering beasts flush from the grass, while also purging the buffalo of harmful fleas and ticks. In both cases, the keen-eyed aves also serve to alert their hoofed mammal companions if danger approaches. Birds too cooperate with their reptilian relatives. The Egyptian plover fearlessly steps into the gaping mouths of crocodiles to pick the scraps from their teeth, like a hungry dentist.

Male (left) and female (left) Von der Decken's hornbills show off their sexually dimorphic bills.

³ Two species of hornbills have been recorded as having a true mutualistic partnership with dwarf mongooses. These are Von der Decken's hornbill (Tockus deckeni) — both sexes sport black and white plumage, but females display grim all-black beaks while those of males are orange-red — and the eastern yellow-billed hornbill (Tockus flavirostris) — with mottled monochrome plumage, a bare pink throat patch, and a large yellow "banana" beak.

**Where Does It Live?**

⛰️ Savannahs, woodlands, and scrublands.
📍 Sub-Saharan Africa; from Somalia and Ethiopia in the east to Angola in the west, and down to eastern South Africa.

‘Least Concern’ as of 28 February, 2015.

IUCN

Size // Small
Length // 18 to 28 cm (7 - 11 in) body and 12 to 20 cm (4.7 - 8 in) tail
Weight // ~275 grams (1 lb)
Activity: Diurnal ☀️
Lifestyle: Social 👥
Lifespan: Up to 18 years
Diet: Carnivore
Favorite Food: Insects 🐜
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Herpestidae
Genus: Helogale
Species: H. parvula

The common dwarf mongoose is both the smallest mongoose species and Africa's smallest carnivore — its body measuring between 18 and 28 centimetres (7 - 11 inches). It is also one of the most abundant carnivores in Africa.

While most mongoose species are solitary, dwarf mongooses live in family packs of between 8 and 30 individuals.

Each mongoose pack has one dominant pair, who are usually also the oldest of the group. While the male acts as a lookout, the female leads the pack. The dominant pair are also the only breeding pair in a pack.

Apart from the dominant pair, the hierarchy of a mongoose pack is determined by age — in this case, the younger mongooses outrank their elders.

The dwarf mongoose falls prey to many predators; snakes, monitor lizards, marabou storks, raptors, jackals, and other mongooses.

Mongoose packs work together with hornbills — specifically of the eastern yellow-billed and Von der Decken's variety — while foraging. The mongooses flush out insects for the hornbills as they forage, while the hornbills keep keen watch of the skies for aerial predators.

In the morning, hornbills arrive at a dwarf mongoose mound to wake up the pack with clucking alarm calls. If no hornbills arrive, a mongoose pack may choose not to go foraging that day.