What Did We Learn?

Now for some numbers. On Sunday 15 March we captured five females and three males. One female had been marked in August 2007, another female had been marked in 2008, and one male had been marked in August 2008. On Monday 16 March we captured five males and two females. Two males were first marked in August 2007, another male was first marked in August 2008, another male we marked in August 2008 and caught on Sunday. One of the females was also marked on Sunday. On Tuesday 17 August we captured five males and one female. One male had been marked on Sunday, another male was marked in August 2007, and the female was marked in August 2007 also. On Wednesday 18 March we captured eight males and two females, one of which was pregnant with two fetuses. One male was marked on Sunday another was marked in August 2007, and a third was marked in August 2007 and recaptured in 2008. On Thursday 19 March we captured two males and two females. One of the males was dead in the trap, a victim of the wild dogs on the Refuge. One female was marked on Sunday and recaptured on Monday.

In summary we captured a total of 35 mongoose in five days, yielding an average trap success rate of approximately 23%. There were a total of 30 unique captures, six recaptures form 2007, four recaptures from 2008, five recaptures during this trip, and one male was marked in 2007, recaptured in 2008 and on this trip. Thirteen males and seven females were captured for the first time on this trip. Of the 30 different animals captured, 20 were males and 10 were females.

All but eight of the mongoose showed signs of cat fleas, but none tested positive for tapeworms or other internal gastrointestinal parasites as determined by Katie. Four males and one female had broken canines, and two males and four females were missing incisors. The fur of animals varied in color from grayish to brown to sandy and all animals coats were in good condition.