Golden Jackal/Black-backed Jackal/නරියා/හිවලා[Nariya/Hiwala] (Canis aureus)

 Golden jackal or as sometimes Sri Lankan population is known as Black-backed Jackal (C.a. lanka is no longer considered as a sub species but synonym of the C.a. naria also occurs in the South India.) is a mammal inhabiting grasslands, scrubs, marshy areas and such habitats throughout the island, while becoming rare in the higher hills and much common in the dry lowlands. Though usually they are encountered as pairs Golden jackal often hunts in small packs. It is an omnivorous animal and eat anything that it can kill such as birds, lizards, small mammals, beetles etc. Golden jackal is also a scavenger of dead animals and eat fruits and berries too. In forested areas with less human presence it can be seen any time of day or night. But it become a nocturnal animal when wandering close to human habitations.

මුගටියා (Herpestes smithii)

 පහත රට වියලි සහ තෙත් යන කලාප දෙකේම වනාන්තර සහ වනාන්තර ආශ්‍රිත ප්‍රදේශ වල සුලභ මුගටි විශේෂයකි. අඩි 3500 සිට 4000 ට වඩා උස කඳුකරයේ දුර්ලභය. දිවා රාත්‍රී දෙකේම ආහාර සොයමින් සැරිසරන මුත් බහුලව උදෑසන සහ හවස් යාමයේ ක්‍රියාශීලී වේ. වල්ගය උඩ අතට නමාගෙන් ඇවිදින හැසිරීමක් දක්වන බැවින් මෙම මුගටි විශේෂය මෙරට හමුවන අනිත් මුගටි විශේෂ අතරින් විශේෂ දෙකකින්ම පැහැදිලිව දුරකදී පවා වෙන් කර හඳුනාගත හැක. පක්ෂීන්, මීයන් වැනි කුඩා ක්ෂීරපායීන් මෙන්ම ගැරඩියන්, තලගොයි පැටවුන් වැනි උරගයන්ද, එසේම ගොලුබෙල්ලන් සහ කම්බිලි පණුවන් වැනි කුඩා අපෘෂ්ඨවංශී සතුන්ද  ගොදුරු කරගන්නා මෙම මුගටියා අවස්ථාව ලදහොත් වෙනත් සතුන්ගේ මළකුණු කොටස් පවා පවා අහාරයට ගනී. බොහෝවිට තනිව හැසිරෙන මුත් ගැහැණු සහ පිරිමි ජෝඩු ලෙසින්ද ගොදුරු සොයමින් හැසිරෙන ආකාරය දැකිය හැක. බහුලවම හෞමික හැසිරීමක් දක්වන මුත් ගස් නැගීමේද මනා හැකියාවක් ඇති බව නිරීක්ෂණය කර ඇත. 

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බොර මුගටියා [Bora Mugatiya]/Indian Brown Mongoose (Herpestes fuscus)

 Indian Brown Mongoose is a mammal inhabiting forest patches, well wooded home gardens, tea estates, and similar habitats throughout the western third of the island from northwest arid zone to higher hills. It is seldom to be found in heavy forests. However it can be also seen in urban and suburban home gardens, even within the heart of Colombo. It is usually seen as a solitary animal though mating pairs or mother-pups families occasionally encountered. Indian Brown Mongoose is a omnivorous and mainly preys on rodents, frogs, snakes, lizards, spiders, birds their eggs and young, worms, grubs, etc. It also eats berries and even flowers. Depending on the habitat, it is active both during the day and night but usually forages in the early mornings and late afternoons. Indian Brown Mongoose breeds mostly during the first few months of the year. Female Indian Brown Mongoose give birth to  three or four pups in a chamber dug into an anthill or an earthen bank usually by the mother. Three sub species of Indian Brown Mongoose are accepted as H.f. phillipsi from Central Province, H.f. rubidior from the Western Province and H.f. siccatus from the Northern Province mainly base on size and color.   

අළු මුගටියා[Alu Mugatiya]/Indian Grey Mongoose (Herpestes edwardsii)

Grey Mongoose is a common mammal found throughout the island up to about 2100 m elevations. It is much common in the grasslands and lightly wooded places of the dry lowlands, northwards from the north central province. It ia also common in Sigiriya and several other forested areas of Mathale district though very rare in the southern part of the country. It is a more diurnal in its habits and active mostly early in the morning or late afternoon. Grey Mongoose usually encounters as solitary individuals or as pairs.  It preys on small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs, snails, small snakes, grubs, insects etc. But also feeds on fruits, berries and roots of certain plants to a lesser extent and sometimes even eats carrion. There is not defined breeding season for this animal in Sri Lanka and mating occurs whenever the female comes into season. Female Grey Mongoose give birth to two to four pups in a chamber dug into an anthill or an earthen bank and shelter them in it for few months. Pups may remain with the mother for about 6 months. 

Black-tipped Mongoose /Ruddy Mongoose (Herpestes smithii)

This mongoose can be distinguished from other three of same family inhabiting Sri lanka by having black tip at the tail end and not having of black strip in neck. Common in jungles and vicinity of forested areas in both dry and wet zone lowlands and becoming scarce in hills above 3500-4000ft. It hunts during both day and night though mostly active in early morning and evening hours. It has a habit of carrying its tail curved upward and can be recognized it even at a distance due to this. Its prey consists mainly of birds, small mammals and reptiles and any carrion that it comes across.

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