An observation of Indian Grey edwardsii mating

Abstract Krishna C. MURALI*, Sidharth RAMACHANDRAN and Pradheeps MUTTHULINGAM

Indian Grey Mongoose Herpestes edwardsii is among the most common small carnivores of the , yet its be of the several copulations took about 30–40 seconds; they were separated by 2–3 minutes. - haviour and ecology are poorly documented. A pair was observed mating, in open scrub, at 07h30 on 24 September 2009. Each Keywords: behaviour, copulation duration, copulation style, India, natural history

Indian Grey Mongoose Herpestes edwardsii is one of the most roditus, Grey Mongoose and aureus. Some commonly found mongoose in the Indian subconti Bubo bengalensis, nent, occurring from the Himalayan foothills south to Kanya Phoenix - pusillalarge birds, Jasminum of prey, angustifolium such as Indian and Eagle Acacia Owl auriculiformis, in et al. 2006). Pondicherry is a union territory- exist in the campus. The vegetationTectona is dominated grandis by and Euca- kumari and Sri Lanka, extending westward to Arabia and east lyptus. - sityto Assam campus (Veron is situated 10 km north of Pondicherry town, at termixedUnder with slightly plantations overcast of conditionsTeak at 07h30 on 24 Sep situated in Tamil Nadu, southern India. Pondicherry Univer- carnivores such as Common Palm Civet hermaph- - 12°00'57"N, 79°51'31"E. Its scrub and woodlands support withtember Jasminum 2009, we bushes, were returningwith open from canopy birding dominated in the campusby Aca- ciawhen,, we insaw an two area Grey dominated by running scrub-like one behind vegetation the other. thick Jasminum about 20–30 m from the pair, we silently observed them. They seemed quite oblivious to our From behind a large

theypresence. copulated The pairabout exhibited 2–3 times. playful During behaviour copulation, in which the female they mock-attacked each other for about 5 minutes, after which ing sidewise, whereas the male apparently concentrated on lay on her abdomen (Fig. 1), facing her head forward and look- about 30–40 seconds. after which the male tried to push the female.mating, notThey looking remained at the parted surroundings. for about Each 2–3 copulation minutes, thentook again the female allowed the male to mount again. This behav iour lasted for about 10–13 mins, after which the pair disap peared into bushes. These observations echo those of captives- - repeated half a dozen or more times at intervals of few minutes onby Frereeach occasion”. (1929), who We mentionedcould not trace that any“the other act (copulation) information was on

mating in this species. Prater (1971) noted the post-mating be- haviour, but did not detail copulation, and Pocock (1941) made referenceAcknowledgements only to Frere (1929).

The authors are highly thankful to Parthasarathy, Department of Ecol- ogy and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University, for helping University,us in identifications for guiding of usthe in plant teaching species some and aspects to Priya of animalDavidar, behav Prof., iour.Department We thank of the Ecology referees and for Environmental their comments Sciences, that helped Pondicherry improve the quality of the manuscript. -

References Her- pestes edwardsii). Journal of Bombay Natural History Society 33: Frere, A. G. 1929. Breeding habits of the Common Mongoose ( Fig. 1. A pair of Grey Mongooses Herpestes edwardsii mating in The book of Indian Pondicherry University campus, India, on 24 September 2009. 426–428. Prater, S. H. 1971. . Bombay Natural His- tory Society and Oxford University Press, Bombay, India.

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The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Burma. Pondicherry University, Puducherry, 605 014, India. Pocock,don, R. U.K. I. 1941. *Current address: c/o: Dr Awadhesh Kumar, Wildlife Mammalia, 2nd edn, vol. II. Taylor & Francis, Lon- Resource and Conservation Lab, Department of Forestry, Northeastern Regional Institute of Science and Veron, G., Patou, M.-L., Pothet, G., Simberloff, D. & Jennings, A.Zoologica P. 2006 Technology (NERIST), Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, India. (forScripta 2007). 36: 1–10.Systematic status and biogeography of the Javan and Email: [email protected] Small Indian Mongooses (Herpestidae, ).

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