Ring-tailed Mongoose youngster feeding, Amber Mountain, Madagascar
Sub species Galidia elegans dambrensis (Northern Ring-tailed Mongoose). Often found around human settlements but usually always on the move. We were lucky to find this one and its parents feeding on a meal they could not afford to abandon. As Ring-tailed Mongooses reach maturity in about 1 year, it is safe to assume this one is younger.
In this photo it is chewing on what is likely a Tenrec. The parent is right next to it, not in this frame.
The ring-tailed mongoose is a euplerid that lives on the island of Madagascar. There is actually much disagreement about the placement of Madagascar's carnivores including the ring-tailed mongoose, within the phylogenetic tree. Recent molecular work by Anne Yoder et al. reported in the journal "Nature" suggests that the Malagasy Carnivora evolved from a single herpestid ancestor.
