Mangouste à collier

Collared Mongoose populations are particularly poorly known, even compared with other Southeast Asian small carnivores. Although rising camera-trap use has increased the number of localities known to hold the species, it remains difficult to assess population size of unmarked animals based on camera-trap studies alone; the paucity of research on the species also prevents reliable quantitative estimates. This species is widespread in Borneo where it has been detected over a wide altitudinal range in a variety of habitat types. It is thought that in Borneo this species may be more common between elevations of 100 and 500 m asl (J. Ross unpublished data, J. Mathai unpublished data) and may occur less frequently in recently logged forest (J. Brodie pers. comm. 2014) and that, in general, it may occur primarily in less disturbed forest types (A. Wilting pers. comm. 2014). Encounter rates appear to be lower than the regularly camera-trapped and well-documented Short tailed Mongoose Herpestes brachyurus (J. Hon pers. comm. 2014, J. Ross pers. comm. 2014, J. Mathai pers. comm. 2014) although some camera-trap studies have found the reverse (J. Brodie pers. comm. 2014). On Sumatra, there is even less information on the population status of the species, at least in part reflecting the lower survey effort there and the lack of a record-collation process comparable to the Borneo Carnivore Symposium. While it is evidently widespread there, available data suggest a much smaller population than that on Borneo.