Melogale personata
Burmese ferret-badger

The range of the Melogale personata includes Nepal, north-eastern India, Myanmar (formally Burma), southern most provinces of China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia (Jackson 2001). A subspecies of M. personata, Melogale personata orientalis, is found on the Indonesian island of Java (Colijn 2000).

The Burmese ferret badger is a terrestrial species that can live in forests, savannas, or grasslands (Nowak & Paradiso 1983).

Burmese ferret badgers are small weighing between 1 and 3 kg at maturity. Melogale personata have an elongated body that can reach a head and body length ranging from 330 mm to 430 mm long. They have bushy tails between 150 mm to 230 mm long. Their legs resemble a typical badger because they are short with broad paws and large claws used in digging. Melogale personata, like all ferret badgers, have partially webbed toes and ridges on the pads of their feet. These characteristics are believed to be adaptations for climbing. Melogale personata have grayish to brownish fur with a lighter fur on their underside. They have white heads with black markings including a black band across their muzzle and another across the forehead between their ears. Burmese ferret badgers have thinner black stripes on their face than the Chinese ferret badger. The white dorsal stripe of the Burmese ferret badger runs from its head to the base of the tail. This distinguishes it from the Chinese ferret badger because in the Chinese species the dorsal stripe does not reach the base of the tail (Jackson 2001).

Burmese ferret badgers have lived ten years in captivity. However, there are no data on the lifespan of Burmese ferret badgers in the wild (Jackson 2001).

Burmese ferret badgers are primarily nocturnal. However, they have limited day activity usually focused around dawn and dusk and lasting no more than a few hours (Jackson 2001). Melogale personata spend most of the day sleeping in a burrow or natural shelter. They do not dig their own holes to create burrows, instead they use preexisting burrows. Information is limited regarding ferret badgers' social organizations, home ranges and territories. One study showed male ferret badgers have home ranges that are large enough to encompass the ranges of several females, approximately 4 to 9 hectares. Researchers have suggested that members of the genus Melogale are solitary except during the breeding season, but more research is needed to further understand the social organization and reproductive behavior (Jackson 2001).

The Burmese ferret badger forages primarily on the ground, but they do spend some time in trees hunting insects and snails. Melogale personata has larger teeth than the other Melogale species. The massive teeth of M. personata are thought to be an adaptation for crushing hard shelled insects and mollusks (primarily snails). The Burmese ferret badger also eats cockroaches, grasshoppers, and earthworms. They also prey upon small mammals, including young rats, frogs, toads, small lizards, carrion, small birds, bird eggs, plant matter, and fruit (Jackson 2001).

Badgers including M. personata are suspected to be able to transmit tuberculosis (TB) to cattle; however, research has not been able to determine how this may take place (Hutchinson 2000).

Lepcha and Bhotia peoples in northeast India keep M. personata in their homes to control cockroaches and other insect and rodent pests. M. personata is hunted and trapped in southeast Asia. Like all ferret badgers, the Burmese ferret badger is used as a source of food, fur, and medicines by the local people (Jackson 2001).

Although M. personata is not currently listed as threatened or endangered, habitat destruction and degradation due to high rates of deforestation in its range could be a significant threat to its survival and success. Melogale personata orientalis, a subspecies of M. personata, is described as low risk - near threatened, meaning they are close to being considered vulnerable and may need future conservation attention (Colijn 2000).

Melogale personata was first described in 1831 by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (Mammal Species of the World, 1993).