{"title":"First record of crab-eating mongoose (Herpestes urva formosanus) in coastal forest and use of anvils during predation on land hermit crabs in Taiwan","authors":"Shu-Huang Huang, Chia-Hsuan Hsu","doi":"10.1007/s10211-022-00392-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Crab-eating mongooses (<i>Herpestes urva</i>) are widely distributed across Southeast Asia. In Taiwan, the mongoose (<i>H. urva formosanus</i>, endemic subspecies) is a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act. Crab-eating mongooses have been observed near streams, riversides, agricultural lands, and shallow mountain areas. Additionally, as described in this short communication, by using a remote camera, we observed a small population of mongooses in the coastal forest in Kenting National Park in Taiwan. The mongooses in the coastal forest were observed eating land hermit crabs, which is the first-ever recorded observation of this behavior. Mongooses are known to consume crabs (<i>Brachyura</i>), insects, and some small reptiles. However, this article presents the first record case of mongooses using stone anvil to crack open land hermit crabs. From our observations and field records, we determined that mongooses use flat rocks as anvils and their front paws to tap hermit crabs’ shells repeatedly to break the shells and remove the hermit crabs. We also observed that the mongooses only ate the abdomens of large hermit crabs. Additional studies are necessary to determine why the mongooses migrated to the coastal forest and how they learned to open hermit crab shells. This behavior of mongooses might help them move into living in coastal forests.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":6879,"journal":{"name":"acta ethologica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2022-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"acta ethologica","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10211-022-00392-3","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
Crab-eating mongooses (Herpestes urva) are widely distributed across Southeast Asia. In Taiwan, the mongoose (H. urva formosanus, endemic subspecies) is a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act. Crab-eating mongooses have been observed near streams, riversides, agricultural lands, and shallow mountain areas. Additionally, as described in this short communication, by using a remote camera, we observed a small population of mongooses in the coastal forest in Kenting National Park in Taiwan. The mongooses in the coastal forest were observed eating land hermit crabs, which is the first-ever recorded observation of this behavior. Mongooses are known to consume crabs (Brachyura), insects, and some small reptiles. However, this article presents the first record case of mongooses using stone anvil to crack open land hermit crabs. From our observations and field records, we determined that mongooses use flat rocks as anvils and their front paws to tap hermit crabs’ shells repeatedly to break the shells and remove the hermit crabs. We also observed that the mongooses only ate the abdomens of large hermit crabs. Additional studies are necessary to determine why the mongooses migrated to the coastal forest and how they learned to open hermit crab shells. This behavior of mongooses might help them move into living in coastal forests.
期刊介绍:
acta ethologica publishes empirical and theoretical research papers, short communications, commentaries, reviews and book reviews as well as methods papers in the field of ethology and related disciplines, with a strong concentration on the behavior biology of humans and other animals.
The journal places special emphasis on studies integrating proximate (mechanisms, development) and ultimate (function, evolution) levels in the analysis of behavior. Aspects of particular interest include: adaptive plasticity of behavior, inter-individual and geographic variations in behavior, mechanisms underlying behavior, evolutionary processes and functions of behavior, and many other topics.
acta ethologica is an official journal of ISPA, CRL and the Portuguese Ethological Society (SPE)