Brown mongoose
Urva fusca (Waterhouse, 1838)
The brown mongoose (Urva fusca) is a species in the family Herpestidae, order Carnivora. Recorded adults weigh about 519.6 g and live up to 8.9 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Quick facts about the brown mongoose
- Weight
- 519.6 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 8.9 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 12.6 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 61.3 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.37src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 12 months – 13.6 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 2src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the brown mongoose live?
Not recorded
Is the brown mongoose endangered?
The brown mongoose is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the brown mongoose classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyHerpestidae
- genusUrva
- SpeciesUrva fusca (Waterhouse, 1838)
Synonyms Herpestes fuscus, Herpestes fuscus flavidens, Herpestes fuscus maccarthiae
Other names and names in other languages (17)
- Indian brown mongooseEnglish
- نمس بني هنديArabic
- Indischer KurzschwanzmungoGerman
- Indische KurzschwanzmangusteGerman
- Meloncillo marrón indioSpanish
- Mangouste bruneFrench
- Mangusta bruna indianaItalian
- インドトビイロマングースJapanese
- 갈색몽구스Korean
- 인도갈색몽구스Korean
- BrunmungoNorwegian Bokmål
- Indische Bruine MangoesteDutch
- mangusta brunatnaPolish
- Mangusto-MarromPortuguese
- Бурый мангустRussian
- බොර මුගටියාSinhala
- 褐獴Chinese
Relatives of the brown mongoose
Other species in the same genus Urva.
Indian mongoose
Urva auropunctata

Mongoose
Urva javanica

Gray mongoose
Urva edwardsii

Collared mongoose
Urva semitorquata

Brown crab mongoose
Urva urva

Water mongoose
Urva brachyura
CompareBrown mongoose vs Indian mongooseBrown mongoose vs MongooseBrown mongoose vs Gray mongooseBrown mongoose vs Collared mongoose
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the brown mongoose?
An adult brown mongoose weighs 519.6 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the brown mongoose endangered?
The brown mongoose is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the brown mongoose live?
The brown mongoose has a recorded lifespan of 8.9 years.
How long is the brown mongoose pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 61.3 days.
What kind of animal is the brown mongoose?
The brown mongoose (Urva fusca) belongs to the family Herpestidae in the order Carnivora.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Brown mongoose (Urva fusca). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-mongoose
“Brown mongoose (Urva fusca).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-mongoose.
@misc{brown_mongoose_2026,
title = {Brown mongoose (Urva fusca)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-mongoose},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}