Gray mongoose
Urva edwardsii (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818)
Status not recordedmammals
The gray mongoose (Urva edwardsii) is a species in the family Herpestidae, order Carnivora. Recorded adults weigh 1.01 kg to 1.31 kg and live up to 12.3 years.

Quick facts about the gray mongoose
- Weight
- 1.01 kg – 1.31 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 12.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 12.3 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 60.3 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.6src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 10.2 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 3.3src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the gray mongoose live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the gray mongoose as introduced in 3 countries.
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the gray mongoose endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the gray mongoose classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCarnivora
- familyHerpestidae
- genusUrva
- SpeciesUrva edwardsii (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818)
Synonyms Herpestes edwardsi, Herpestes edwardsi ferrugineus, Herpestes edwardsi lanka, Herpestes edwardsi nyula, Herpestes edwardsii, Ichneumon edwardsii
Other names and names in other languages (35)
- Common Indian mongooseEnglish
- Common mongooseEnglish
- Gray ichneumonEnglish
- Grey mongooseEnglish
- Indian gray mongooseEnglish
- Indian grey mongooseEnglish
- Indian mongooseEnglish
- نمس رمادي هنديArabic
- নেউলBangla
- Almindelig mangustDanish
- Indischer MungoGerman
- Ινδική Γκρίζα ΜανγκούσταGreek
- Meloncillo grisSpanish
- Mangosta Hindú GrisSpanish
- mungoFinnish
- Mangouste d'EdwardsFrench
- નોળિયોGujarati
- Mangusta grigia indianaItalian
- ハイイロマングースJapanese
- 인도몽구스Korean
- 인도회색몽구스Korean
- 회색몽구스Korean
- भारतीय राखी मुंगूसMarathi
- Bambun KelabuMalay
- IndiamungoNorwegian Bokmål
- Indische Grijze MangoesteDutch
- mangusta indyjskaPolish
- Mangusto-cinzento-IndianoPortuguese
- Обыкновенный мангустRussian
- Индийский серый мунгоRussian
- අළු මුගටියාSinhala
- Indisk mungoSwedish
- ముంగీసTelugu
- Мангуст індійський сірийUkrainian
- 灰獴Chinese
Relatives of the gray mongoose
Other species in the same genus Urva.
Indian mongoose
Urva auropunctata

Mongoose
Urva javanica

Collared mongoose
Urva semitorquata

Brown crab mongoose
Urva urva

Water mongoose
Urva brachyura
CompareGray mongoose vs Indian mongooseGray mongoose vs MongooseGray mongoose vs Collared mongooseGray mongoose vs Brown crab mongoose
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the gray mongoose?
An adult gray mongoose weighs 1.01 kg – 1.31 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the gray mongoose live?
The gray mongoose has a recorded lifespan of 12.3 years.
Is the gray mongoose an invasive species?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the gray mongoose as introduced in 3 countries: Kuwait, Mauritius and United Arab Emirates, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.
How long is the gray mongoose pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 60.3 days.
What kind of animal is the gray mongoose?
The gray mongoose (Urva edwardsii) 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 - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Gray mongoose (Urva edwardsii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/gray-mongoose
“Gray mongoose (Urva edwardsii).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/gray-mongoose.
@misc{gray_mongoose_2026,
title = {Gray mongoose (Urva edwardsii)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/gray-mongoose},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}