Mammals of the WorldStripe-necked Mongoose
Urva vitticollis
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Herpestidae
- Genus
- Urva
- IUCN status
- LC (as Urva vitticolla)
- Distribution
- India|Sri Lanka
- Realm
- Indomalaya
About this species
- Size
- Head and body 46–50cm; tail about 32cm
- Weight
- Males about 3.1kg; females about 1.7kg
- Diet
- Frogs, crabs, mouse deer, black-naped hares, rodents, fowl and reptiles
- Range
- India and Sri Lanka
The stripe-necked mongoose is a large mongoose, rusty brown to grizzled grey, with a black stripe running along each side of the neck that gives it its name. The short tail is mostly black and grey at the base. Head and body length is 46–50 cm and the tail about 32 cm. Males average about 3.1 kg and females about 1.7 kg, so the sexes differ a lot in size (Yapa and Ratnavira 2013, as reported on Wikipedia).
The species lives only in India and Sri Lanka. The measurements above come from a Sri Lankan field guide and are given for the species as a whole; no cached account describes its ecology in India. The recorded diet is broad and includes frogs, crabs, mouse deer, black-naped hares, rodents, fowl and reptiles (Yapa and Ratnavira 2013, as reported on Wikipedia).
Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)