Indian Mongoose

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iIndian Mongoose

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Herpestidae
Subfamily:	Herpestinae
Genus:	Herpestes
Species:	H. javanicus

Binomial name

Herpestes javanicus
É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818

Synonyms

Herpestes auropunctatus

The Indian Mongoose, Small Indian Mongoose, Small Asian Mongoose or the Javan Mongoose (Herpestes javanicus) is a species of mongoose found in the wild in South and Southeast Asia. They have also been introduced to various parts of the world.

1 Distribution
2 Introduction to Hawaii
3 Invasive species
4 References

[edit] Distribution

This species is found in the northern part of India, in the arid desert regions and the plains of the Ganges. They are capable of living within cities and are often unafraid of humans. The mongoose character Rikki-Tikki-Tavi in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book would probably have been based on this species.

[edit] Introduction to Hawaii

The 1800's were a huge century for sugar cane and plantations shot up on many tropical islands including Hawai'i and Jamaica. With sugar cane came rats, attracted to the sweet plant, which ended up causing quite a bit of crop destruction and loss. In 1872 a gentleman by the name of W. B. Espeut, in an attempt to control the rising rat populations introduced Indian Mongoose from Calcutta to the island of Jamaica. A subsequent paper published by Espeut, that praised the results intrigued local Hawaiian plantation owners who, in 1883, brought 72 mongooses from Jamaica to the Hamakua Coast on the Big Island. These were raised and their offspring were shipped to plantations on other islands.

Currently, only the islands of Lana'i and Kaua'i are (thought to be) free of mongoose. There are two conflicting stories of why Kaua'i was spared. The first is that the residents of Kaua'i were opposed to having the animals on the island and when the ship carrying the offspring reached Kaua'i, the animals were thrown overboard and drowned. A second story tells that upon arriving to Kaua'i one of the mongooses bit a dockworker who, in a fit of anger, threw the caged animals into the harbor to drown.

[edit] Invasive species

The mongoose introduction did not have the desired effect of rat control.

The mongoose hunted birds and bird eggs threatening many local island species. The mongooses bred prolifically with males becoming sexually mature at 4 months and females producing litters of 2-5 pups a year.

Mongooses can also carry leptospirosis and these can contaminate water supplies. ^{[citation needed]}