The spatial ecology of the Herpestidae family has remained poorly studied across Africa. The behavioural plasticity and generalist nature of members of the family could be facilitating their expansion in anthropogenically transformed landscapes. Given the current paucity of information on their spatial ecology, knowledge of their spatial movement is important ecological information for the species conservation. Three co-existing mongoose species [large grey ( Herpestes ichneumon , n = 5)], water ( Atilax paludinosus , n = 5) and white-tailed ( Ichneumia albicauda , n = 2) were collared and tracked from September 2016 to October 2017 using Global Positioning System (GPS)–Ultra-high-frequency (UHF) transmitters to determine their home range size and fine-scale spatial movement in the fragmented natural habitat and farmland mosaic landscape of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, South Africa. Three home range methods [minimum convex polygon (MCP), kernel density estimation (KDE) and local convex hull (LoCoH)] were used to delineate individual home range size and core area utilisation. The overall mean home range size (95% KDE mean ± S.E.) differed among species: large grey (9.8 ± 8.19 km 2 ), water (13.7 ± 5.30 km 2 ) and white-tailed mongoose (0.9 ± 0.06 km 2 ). The mean core area utilisation size (50% KDE means ± S.E.) for large grey, water and white-tailed mongoose was 2.2 ± 0.77 km 2 , 3.1 ± 0.96 km 2 and 0.2 ± 0.02 km 2 . Species specific variability in home range size of the study species emphasises this family’s adaptability to their surrounding environment in a changing natural habitat and farmland mosaic landscape. The reduced core area use possibly indicates the availability of high resourceful areas and adequate resources within a comparably small area.

中文翻译：

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南非夸祖鲁-纳塔尔中部地区破碎景观中三种共存猫鼬物种的栖息地和核心区利用：大灰尾、水尾和白尾

Herpestidae 科的空间生态学在整个非洲的研究仍然很少。家庭成员的行为可塑性和通才性质可能有助于他们在人为改造的景观中扩张。鉴于目前有关其空间生态学信息的缺乏，了解其空间运动是物种保护的重要生态信息。三种共存猫鼬种[大灰(Herpestes ichneumon, n = 5)]、水(Atilax paludinosus, n = 5)和白尾猫鼬(Ichneumia abicauda, n = 2) 于 2016 年 9 月至 2017 年 10 月期间使用全球定位系统 (GPS)-超高频 (UHF) 发射器进行圈套和跟踪，以确定它们在破碎的自然栖息地和农田中的归属范围大小和精细空间运动南非夸祖鲁-纳塔尔中部地区的马赛克景观。三种家庭范围方法[最小凸多边形 (MCP)、核密度估计 (KDE) 和局部凸包 (LoCoH)] 用于描绘个人家庭范围大小和核心区域利用。总体平均家庭范围大小（95% KDE 平均值 ± SE）因物种而异：大灰猫 (9.8 ± 8.19 km 2 )、水猫 (13.7 ± 5.30 km 2 ) 和白尾猫鼬 (0.9 ± 0.06 km 2 )。大型灰、水和白尾獴的平均核心区利用大小（50% KDE 平均值± SE）为2.2 ± 0.77 km 2 、3.1 ± 0.96 km 2 和0.2 ± 0。02 公里 2 . 研究物种的家庭范围大小的物种特定变异性强调了该家庭在不断变化的自然栖息地和农田马赛克景观中对其周围环境的适应性。核心区使用量的减少可能表明在一个相对较小的区域内可以使用资源丰富的区域和足够的资源。