Svran CnnNrvonr CoNSERVATToN The Newsletterand Journal of the IUCN/SSC Mustelid,Viverrid & ProcyonidSpecialist Group IUCN Number28 April2003 SPEcrEsSunvrvAL CoMMISSIoN Stflpe-necked/vlongoose Herp€stes vitticollis - Photo:M. N.loyokunor, lFS,ARPS, AFIAP The productionand distributionof this issuehas beensponsored by "l\,4arwellPreservation Trust Ltd", Colden Common, UK "RoyalZoological Society of Antwerp",Antwerp, Belgium "CarnivoreConservation & ResearchTrust". Knoxville. TN. USA "ColumbusZoo", Powell, Ohio, USA and "WildlifeConservation Society/Central Park Wildlife Centel', NewYork, NY, USA ColumbusZOO ...1'!hiigtr4rr iihtr r.ontt. t.t dos Svrnn Cnnxrvonr CoNSERVATToN The Newsletterand Joumal of the IUCN/SSC Mustelid.Viverrid & hocyonidSpecialist Group Editor-in-chief: HarryVan Rompaey, Edegem, Belgium Associateeditor: William Duckworth,Bristol, UK Editorial board: AngelaGlatston, Rotterdam, Netherlands MichaelRiffel, Heidelberg,Germany Amd Schreiber,Heidelberg, Germany RolandWinh, Miinchen, Germany Thc !icws cxpressedin tbis publicalioDare thoseoflhe authorsand do not necessarilyreflec! lhose of lhe IUCN. nor the IUCN/SSC Musteljd. viverrid & ProcyonidSpecialist Group. Thc ann ofthis publicatbn is to offc. thc mcmbcrsol rheIUCN/SSC MV&PSG, andthose who are conccmedwith mustclids,vi!cnids, and procyonids,briefpapers, news items. abstacts. and titles of recentliterature. A1l readersare invited to send material toi Small Carnivore Conservation cy'oDr. H. Van Rompaey Jan Verbertlei,15 2650 Edegem- Belgium [email protected] Pnnredon reclcledpaper ISSN 1019-5041 Brown-tailed Mongoose Salanois concolor in the Betampona Reserve, eastern Madagascar:Photographs and an ecological cornparison with Ring-tailed Mongoose Galidia elegans Adam BRITTT and Mcki VIRKAITISI Fi! 1 Bt \tn 1orl..l Moh(..t SaL3i.,a .oicolor Ph.b: V Vnkniis Abstract Photographsot' the lir(le knoNn Bros,n tailed Mongoose Sa I un o i a tu no lor in rhe BetamponaReser!c. castcrn Madagascar arc prcscntcd.Theie are probabl) the lirsr in ges of this species taken in the wild. MoFhological features of S. oneb atc dcscrihed.Cornparjson oflhe bchalioural ecoiogy ofthis specic\ with the slmpatric Ring triled Mongoose GalLIia elesans, irdicates thal whilc Lhctwo speciesshire rhe sarnc hlbitat and acli!it] clclc. thev have dietary dillerences.Evidence suggests that S. .,,.or,r is mainly insecrilorous.while G. elesd,r is nxne carni\'orous. Both spccies exhibit acrivlty perks in rhe early moming and late afternoonand show .t prefefencelbr relativel]'. 'lhe intact rain li)rcsl. Obserlations suggestthnt 6. cluSdrr is more mrnfall is grcrtcr thrn 2.5(10nm. forest al tseranpona is rrborcd than t .or.o/of. Both spccicsoften frtragesolitanly. bur dominlrcd by rrees of the t'amilies Liuraceac. Morrcere. li\e r. 'nonocanror.pdir. sirh Jr||nJenr .,ft.Jnn: Etrphorbiaceae.Clusiacqre, Sipotrccrc, Mynaccac. Arecaceae. Lilia.eae and Bursernceae:lirnrs of thc 1lmilics Dillenidae and Introduction Apocyanaceaeiand oumerous epiphltes of thc frDilies Asplcni&eae and Ofchidaceae (Andrianarisit.r. 1995i Tl. R. Thc Br)wn t{iled Mongoose Su knoin (,krnor tlceofftoy Iambana,/drs. .orDn-)- Thc canopyheighr averages 20 - 25 ln and S.rini'Hilaire, ll3l9) ol rhc monotypic genus S.alanotr (Cray, is !cr] broken. with occnsionallargc cmcrgcnrsol > l0 nl. The 1865)isoncof the leastknownMalagasyn]ongooses(Herpestidae. terrainis neep with numc(trh ridges. Calidiinrc). Albignac (198.1)devores only rwo shof senterceslo this spcciesin his oven-.iewofMnhg.rsy clmilores. lt is reporred Thc sympatricoccunenceof Suk1onto oLora Galidid as occuring ir thc easterncoa(al zoneofMadrgascar (AlbiSnac. ?l.Aart at Betanlponawas prcliously r.pollcd by Britt (1999). l9lt4). The pelageis unifomrllr dark browr. The speciesjs known Obscr!rtir)nsofS: .or.o/orand G. elesdnJwere collcctcdoppor to be diurnal and is susFcted to have a dier mainlr conlistirg of tunisticallyfron Norember 1998to Dcccmbcr 2001. S. concolot inlcct larvae(Albignac. 1984)..t .,,. dol wasfecently classified .|'as first notcd at Betamponaby lngrid Porron (Sr. Lolris Zoo. as Vulneitble by ITJCNred list cdtefia (IUC]N/CBSG,2001 ). U.S.A.) in 1998.Limued data arc prcscntcdoD Lhehehaliour of both st)eciesat Betanpom biscd upon obsc.vltions hy personnel The Rins rrilcd Mongoose C.r/n/tu slcsd,r (L Ccoffroy oflhc MadagascarFaunaGroup s (MFC) kojcct Bctampona.M tG S.inr Hilaire, I817) is common rnd widesread in tbe easl.norlh personnclwcrc in theforest daily between07:U0 and 16:00hrs. rnd and\esl otMrdagrsc{r. lt is represeffedir thecrsl by theform (;. on average3 times a week an hour bciorc drwn and rn hour after .. e1"!d,r. with reddi!h brownpelageand l;ve or six darkerbfown du\k. Additionally occrsionrl night walks were taken. The rings on the lail (Albignrc. 198:l) The speciesis diurnal and caL\ following vafiableswefe recordedwhen the specicswcrc sighled: r !aried diet including rodents,snal1 lcmurs. reptiles.frogs, tish, locntioni rinrc; numherof individuals:a8e ofindividuals (adulr or $ails. insec|S.womrs rnd cggl (Albignac. 1984). innnturc); a.tiviiyt sub(mte. Locations were recordedmakinS useoi fixcd.mrrkers positionedevery 50 m on the rail syslcm. Both speciesarc morphobsically si'nilar and exisl s) mp.ttricrlly in therain fore!t ofthe eastemcoaslal z()nc (A lbignac. A total of 75 observalionsof Salanoia .on.oltt werc lgtt,li BritL, 1999). recoded. Tines of obsen-alions(indicaLi!c ol rctivity pattefr). vanation in group !i/e. and comnlenrson diet and habitatnse arc Study Site and rnethods presented.These are comprrcd wilh daLafroD 70 oblewationsof the sympatricCalidid ./.B.rrr. The BcLrmponr ReseNe was firsi created in 1927 rnd becane fie first ol thc stricl nature resenes (R6serveNrturcllc Results Int6gtule)esrablished in i 966 (Andriarnpianina& Peyrieras.I 971). Thcrcrcrvcissixutedbetweent7"15 - l7'55'Sand49'12'49"15 Description E. about.10krn north-westol thcciL)olToamasinaontheens{ coasr The photognphs show that S?/drold .?r.o1or has fairly ol Madrg,rsoar.Betdrnpona covers an areao1 2.228 ha with aititudes shon.&rk brownpelage- Thisis llcckcd wiLhk)ngcr. light cdoured ranging lron 275 - 650 nr abolc sca level (Razokiny. 19851. guard hiirs ak)ng thc hxck and flanks. The back cover ilhrstrates ( urent estimates(Britl cl al.. in prcss)indicare that only 507. of lhe slighllr- lighLcrcollrr of reddishbrown fur running fiom just the reservearea renains as relativ.ly inract titrelt. The climareis below the cars ar)und thc thrcat. The fur on the verrrum is nlso humid tropical. Mean aonual tenperalurc is 24'c rnd annual reddishbrosn The ealsnre rclalilcly largcrnd ntrcr)undedthan in Galidio elesais. Fig. I illusiracs clearly the sharply pointed pairs(see Fig.3). Groupsof tuee were alsoobserved ' usuallyone mrutlc ol S. onLok)r. Thc snoul prolrtrdcssomcwhrt olcr thc animalwas clc.trly smrllcr than tbe othertwo andwas assumedto lowerjaw. Themuzzleisvery thinly furred witb shortwhiskers. lur be an ofispring of thepair. ln Mdrch 1999th.ee adult siTedand one Lrnderthe cbin and around the mouth is whitislr./grey. The tail is imnature individualwere observed travelling together. 1n Novemhef unilbrn y dark brown. The lur on the mil is much longer than on 2001 two adults. one juvenile and one infant were obsened the rest of the body and can be erected when the animal is alarmed. together.The samegroup was observedagain in l)ecember2001. The claws afe about lcnl long and relatively snaight. On both occasionstheinfant was concealcdin r holk)w undcrrrce roots, and not obsened until the motherretumcd t() Ieadit rway. ln the lield .taldn.d .,n.olol is noriceablysmaller and ln July 2(X)()five adult sizedanimals were observedforaging as a nofe gracile than Galidia el.gans.'lhe rail of the latter is also group. Infants were observedfrom Nolcnrbcr LoMarch. As trios considerablylonger. lndividual vananon in pelage colour has wefe observedihroughout tbe yearit is hypothesisedthatoffspring been noted,such that someindividuals of S. .?,.olor appearthe remain with the parentsfbr at leasta year. same shadeof reddish-brownas G. clcg.rtrr (althoughthis may result fron varying light conditionsin the fbrest). Galidia (lcgahs ls ^lso mostfrequenrly obscrvcd singly or in paiff Gee Fig.3). No more than three individuals we.e ever Salanoia conrclor clr';r'r variety ol soft, thrcaty squcxks rccordcdl('gclhcr. rnd tbesewere invariabiy a pair of aduhsand an and growls while tiraging, bul are generally lairly silenr- On oltspnng.Inhnts wereobserved from N ovemberto May. As groups "head !ighting human!, individualsoften exhibit bobbing" ofthree individualswere notedthroughour lhe year it is proposed behaviour.lf alarmedthey produceloud growls and nove with a thal young remain with thei. pareDtsfor 11lcrst x year. siifi-leggedgait. erecdnCthe iail bair.ln contrast,Cdlidid clcgrrr is very vocal.with awide rangeofcalls, andare often ti.st detected Habitaa u,sr by their chdracteristichigh pitched whistling contact calh. Salanoiaconcolor is observcdrnosr frequently in relatively intact rain forest (92.57. of observaiiont. but i! also recordedin Prior to ihis publication the only known photograph of dreas of secondary vegetation and cultivalcd lrnd (7.57. of Saldnoid con.olor 'n cxislcncc wft ol .r stufltd specimcnat the observalions).On three occasionsindividuah were obsened in Field Museumof NaluralHisto.y in Chicago,publishcd in Garbull trces,oDcc at 2 m lbraging in a deadtrunk and twice descending (1999). Phobgraths presenredwcrc takcn hy Vicki Virkaitis in vcnicrl lrunks between 5 - l0