Ruddy mongoose

Weight

1.7 kg – 1.78 kgsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

17.8 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Carnivoresrc for Diet

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

Not recorded

Young per litter or clutch

2.5src for Young per litter or clutch

Active

Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active

Lifestyle

Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle

Brain mass

14.6 g (1.21% of body mass)src for Brain mass

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The ruddy mongoose is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderCarnivora
5. familyHerpestidae
6. genusUrva
7. SpeciesUrva smithii (Gray, 1837)

Synonyms Herpestes smithii, Herpestes smithii smithii, Herpestes smithii thysanurus, Herpestes smithii zeylanius

Catalogue of LifeiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

I

Indian mongoose

Urva auropunctata

HerpestidaeNo free photo yet

Mongoose

Urva javanica

Herpestidae

Gray mongoose

Urva edwardsii

Herpestidae

Collared mongoose

Urva semitorquata

Herpestidae

LC, Least Concern

Brown crab mongoose

Urva urva

Herpestidae

NT, Near Threatened

Water mongoose

Urva brachyura

Herpestidae

CompareRuddy mongoose vs Indian mongooseRuddy mongoose vs MongooseRuddy mongoose vs Gray mongooseRuddy mongoose vs Collared mongoose

• 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
• AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size · CC0 1.0 · 1.0.7
  Herberstein, M.E., McLean, D.J., Lowe, E. et al. (2022) AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size. Scientific Data 9: 265. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01364-9. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6468938
• 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).

@misc{ruddy_mongoose_2026,
  title = {Ruddy mongoose (Urva smithii)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/ruddy-mongoose},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}