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Subfamily Melinae (badgers)

Hog-badger Arctonyx collaris Cuveir, 1835

Distribution

In India, the hog-badger is distributed in Sikkim, north Bengal, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh (Pocock 1941, Prater 1971, Corbet & Hill, 1992, ZSI 1992, Ramakantha 1993, Choudhury 1997a,b, 1999), Outside India it occurs in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Tibet, most of China, Thailand, Sumatra and possibly in Perak in Malaysia (Pocock 1941, Prater 1971, Corbet & Hill, 1992, Wozencraft 1993). An immature specimen was recently caught near Tenga in West Kemang, Arunachal Pradesh (see Choudhary, Status Report 2 in this issue).

Description

The hog-badger is similar to the honey badger, but with a squat bear-like body, stumpy legs and long powerful claws which are whitish in colour. Snout is elongated much like that of a pig, without much fur towards the end, the terminal disc containing the nostrils. Ears are short, rounded and small being a little bigger than the honey badgers’. The coat is coarse and the colour of the dorsal body surface is typically a mixture of black and white or buff, yielding generally a greyish appearance. The head pattern or the mask is black and white, The blackish stripes run through the eyes and are bordered by white stripes, which merge with the nape and with the white of the throat. The ears are whitish and the rhinarium is mostly pinkish in colour. The tail is normally whitish above and below but its base is blackish to some extent. The fore legs from above the elbows and the hind legs from above the hock are black or deep brown. The length of the head and body is 550 to 700 mm, the length of the tail is 120-170 mm and the weight is usually 7 to 14 kg (Walker 1975).

Two subspecies are reported from India, A. collaris collaris Cuveir, 1835 from Sikkim Tarai, Upper West Bengal (Darjeeling) and Assam and A. collaris consul Pocock, 1835 from Assam and Myanmar.

Behaviour

Once the hog-badgers were fairly common in their range but they are now getting increasingly rare. They are largely nocturnal and spend the day in natural shelters such as rock crevices or deep burrows which they dig themselves (Prater 1971). From the recent report (Ramakantha 1993) it appears that they are mainly crepuscular in behaviour. In India they frequent stony grounds or small hills amongst tropical jungle (Prater 1971), and along rivers and rivulets (Ramakantha 1993). Hog-badgers are apparently omnivorous as evident from the snout, which is believed to be used for digging for animal and plant food. Very little is known about their reproductive biology. A female hog-badger from northern China had four newly born young ones in April (Walker 1975).

Conservation status

It is listed in Schedule I part I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Appendix III of CITES, and DD during the CAMP Workshop.

| Introduction | Mustelids | Viverrids | Herpestids | 
| Conservation Significance | References |