Jackson's mongoose

The Jackson Mongoose ( Bdeogale jacksoni ) is an entity belonging to the Schwarzfußmangusten type of mongoose. Discovered in 1889 by Frederick John Jackson Oldfield Thomas described it jacksoni 1894 as Galeriscus. It is most closely related to the Schwarzfußmanguste same subgenus Galeriscus and both are sometimes combined in a single species.

As German trivial name next to Jackson Mongoose also Jackson and Jackson Ichneumon - Hundemanguste be used. Originally, it was described by Paul as Matschie Massaimarder.

Body characteristics

The Jackson Mongoose Mongoose is a large bushy tail. Your head-body length is 50.8 to 57.1 inches, the tail length from 28.3 to 32.4 inches, the Hinterfußlänge 8.6 to 10.8 centimeters, the ear length 2.3 to 3.5 cm and the body weight two to three kilograms. Young, however, already propagating animals can be significantly smaller than adult animals.

The long and dense fur of the upper side is grayish black and white. The hair is 20 millimeters long with black and white rings. The muzzle and chin are brownish white, and the cheeks, throat and sides of the neck are deep yellow. The legs are dark brown or black and the bushy tail is white. The underside is light gray and the undercoat is dense and woolly. The earcups are round and wide and the snout is blunt. The nose is large and the hairless extension of extending centrally furrow divides the upper lip. The front and hind feet have only four toes, as the first toe as usual missing Schwarzfußmangusten. The soles are naked, and the claws are thick and strong.

From the Schwarzfußmanguste it is distinct by the much longer fur, especially on the tail, and by the yellowish tint on the neck and throat.

The dentition of the Jackson Mongoose is typical of mongoose. Located in each half of the jaw three incisors, one canine, four Vorbackenzähne and two molars and the total number of teeth is 40

Habitat and behavior

The habitat of the Jackson Mongoose mountain forests are, bamboo belt and mountain near lowland forests. Their population density is low. She hunts probably often in dense herbaceous vegetation near swamps.

The Jackson Mongoose feeds mainly on rodents and insects, especially army ants. In the Aberdare mountain range rodents made ​​as lamellar tooth rat, Shaggy swamp rats and African Soft rats about 50 volume percent of the food components of 40 feces and insects, especially army ants of the genus Anomma, but also weevils, other beetles and caterpillars 40 percent. In addition, millipedes, snails, lizards and snakes of the eggs were consumed. Young animals ate about 80 percent of rodents such as rats lamellar tooth, brushing hair mice, real mice and African Soft rats next of beetles, lizards, birds, and some ants. Coping with columns of army ants probably depends of maturity and experience, suggesting a recent evolutionary adaptation to this diet.

The Jackson Mongoose is mainly nocturnal and crepuscular. In the Udzungwa Mountains, 73 percent were made by 25 recorded at night with camera traps Photos 19-24 clock. You may live solitarily, but is often in pairs and occasionally observed in groups of four animals. About her procreation is not known.

Dissemination

The distribution area of ​​Jackson Mongoose is very limited and restricted to a forested mountainous regions. It is known from the central and southern Kenya, south-eastern Uganda and the 900 km further south in central Tanzania Udzungwa Mountains, where it was first detected in 2001/ 02. In the Aberdare mountain range, Mount Kenya massif and the Mount Elgon massif she comes up to an altitude of 3300 meters above sea level before. In the Udzungwa Mountains their occurrence seems to be locally very limited and it has been detected only in Matunda forest within a radius of 2.65 kilometers. Maybe they still lived in other massifs of the Eastern Arc Mountains as the Uluguru, Nguru and the Usambara Mountains.

System

The Jackson Mongoose is usually regarded as a sort of Schwarzfußmangusten ( Bdeogale ). It is most closely related to the Schwarzfußmanguste ( Bdeogale nigripes ) from which it differs in skull and fur features and as its mountain variant it is often considered. Both are sometimes in the way Bdeogale combines nigripes or the subgenus Galeriscus, or they will be separated as a distinct genus Galeriscus of Bdeogale.

As an independent way, the Jackson Mongoose by Allen (1939 ), Rosevear (1974 ), Corbet and Hill ( 1980), Honacki and colleagues ( 1982), Nowak and Paradiso ( 1983), Corbet and Hill ( 1986) is, Schliemann (1988 ), Corbet and Hill ( 1991), Nowak (1991 ), Wozencraft (1993 ), Kingdon (1997), Nowak (1999), Pavlinov (2003), Wozencraft (2005), Van Rompaey and colleagues ( 2008) and Gilchrist and employees (2009 ) is considered. Kingdon (1977 ) regards it as a subspecies of Schwarzfußmanguste and Dückerstieg (1972 ) also keeps them for the same kind

Subtypes have not been described.

Nomenclature

Oldfield Thomas described the Jackson Mongoose 1894 as the type species of the new genus Galeriscus jacksoni Galeriscus. As the type locality he gave Mianzini in the country of the Masai in at an altitude of 8000 feet ( 2438 meters) above sea level. Reginald Ernest Moreau, George Henry Evans Hopkins and Robert William Hayman restricted the locality at Mianzini 1945/46, a few miles east-southeast of Lake Naivasha, at the southern end of the Kinangop Plateau and at an altitude of 9,000 feet ( 2,743 meters ) a.

Frederick John Jackson discovered the Jackson Mongoose in 1889 and in 1894 sent a bellows without skull at the British Museum in London. Misled by the defective and incomplete type specimen kept Thomas they initially used for the Grisons. Paul Matschie called Massaimarder 1895, however, was the first to recognize a Schwarzfußmanguste in it. Reginald Innes Pocock looked Galeriscus 1916 also as a synonym of Bdeogale. Ned Hollister held in 1918 for a geographical subspecies of Schwarzfußmanguste.

Inventory and protection

The Jackson mongoose is found in separate populations and appears to be rare. However, there is no reliable information on the portfolio. The World Conservation Union IUCN classified in 2008 as Near Threatened ( Near Threatened ) and almost as vulnerable ( Threatened ) a. This is justified by the assumed population decline of 20 to 25 percent within the last 15 years due to habitat loss. Since it relies on forest habitat, their main threat is probably the ongoing destruction of forests. It was 1988, 1990 and 1994 classified as insufficiently known ( Insufficiently Known ) and 1996 as threatened ( Vulnerable ).

Several populations occur in protected areas such as the Aberdare National Park, Mount Kenya National Park, probably the Mount Elgon National Park and Udzungwa Mountains National Park before. In Tanzania, all public deposits are located in protected areas. It is also probably more common than previously known. De Luca and Rovero (2006 ) recommend the full protection of the adjacent to the Udzungwa Mountains National Park forests and the investigation of other groundwater forests on their presence.