Bornean ferret-badger

The Bornean ferret-badger (Melogale everetti), also known as Everett's ferret-badger or the Kinabalu ferret-badger, is a member of the family Mustelidae. The scientific name commemorates British colonial administrator and zoological collector Alfred Hart Everett.

Bornean ferret-badger
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Genus: Melogale
Species:
M. everetti
Binomial name
Melogale everetti
(Thomas, 1895)
Bornean ferret-badger range

It is nocturnal and mostly carnivorous but may eat some plants; with their diet including insects, snails, earthworms, lizards, small birds and rats (including carcasses) and fruit. Given its varied diet, it was recorded foraging in a small roadside dump site in 2003. The only known conservation measures are that it is protected by Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 as "Melogale personata" and it occurs in Kinabalu Park.

Distribution and habitat

This species of ferret-badger is only known with certainty from the highland forests on Mount Kinabalu and nearby regions in Sabah, Malaysia, but is suspected to occur elsewhere on Borneo, including Brunei, Kalimantan (to Indonesia) and Sarawak (to Malaysia). Their biggest threat is habitat loss through the rapid deforestation in Borneo.

References
  1. Duckworth, J.W. & Azlan, J. (2008). "Melogale everetti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 21 March 2009.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is of data deficient


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