Range Description

The small Asian mongoose occurs across a wide range from Iran through northern India and into Indochina (Lekagul and McNeely 1977). In Asia, this species ranges from sea level to 2,100 m (Simberloff et al. 2000).

Outside of its natural range, this species has many well established populations. Introduced mongoose has been implicated in the devastation of the native fauna, especially on islands (Baldwin et al. 1952, Seaman and Randall 1962, Nellis and Everard 1983, Coblentz and Coblentz 1985). The IUCN lists the Small Asian Mongoose as one of the world’s 100 worst invasive alien species (Lowe et al. 2000). This species was introduced to the West Indies, the Hawaiian Islands, Mauritius, the Fijian Islands, and Okinawa (Simberloff et al. 2000), as well as the Comores and Amami-Oshima Island, Japan (Abe 2005). The reasoning behind these introductions was primarily control of rat and snake populations (S. Abe pers. comm. 2006). The Small Asian Mongoose is also often taken aboard ships, indirectly introducing them to new areas (J.W. Duckworth pers. comm.). The species recently reached Hong Kong (M. Lau pers. comm. 2006), and has also been recorded from the island of Madura, Indonesia (Meiri 2005), but it is not known whether this was due to human introduction or natural dispersal. There are several individuals from northern Sumatra (see van Strien 2001), which were described by Sody (1949) as H. javanicus tjerapai. Within its introduced range, the Small Asian Mongoose has been recorded from sea level to maximum elevations of 3,000 m on the Hawaiian Islands (Baldwin et al. 1952).