# Gray mongoose (*Urva edwardsii*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/gray-mongoose  
Data as of: 2026-11-14

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

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 1.01 kg – 1.31 kg |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Lifespan | 12.3 years |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 12.3 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | shrubland |
| Gestation | 60.3 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 2.6 |
| Age at maturity | 10.2 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 3.3 |
| Active | Day and night (cathemeral) |
| Lifestyle | Terrestrial |
| Conservation status | Not recorded |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Introduced range

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists it as introduced in 3 countries. Introduced: Kuwait, Mauritius, United Arab Emirates. Source: https://griis.org/ (CC BY 4.0).

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Mammalia
- order: Carnivora
- family: Herpestidae
- genus: Urva
- species: *Urva edwardsii* (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1818)

Synonyms: *Herpestes edwardsi*, *Herpestes edwardsi ferrugineus*, *Herpestes edwardsi lanka*, *Herpestes edwardsi nyula*, *Herpestes edwardsii*, *Ichneumon edwardsii*

## Common questions

### 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

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), 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](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), 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](https://commons.wikimedia.org), 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](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1), 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)](https://griis.org/), 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](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).

Cite as: Gray mongoose (Urva edwardsii). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/gray-mongoose