Mammals In The Rice-fields

[isanbirder]

This morning, for the second time, as I was walking through the rice-fields, I saw an unidentified mammal cross the bund in front of me. Long-bodied, like a weasel (not a rat), about 15 inches long excluding any tail (this is a wild guess!), sandy-brown in colour. On the previous occasion, the mammal stood up ( like a weasel does)to have a look around. Does anybody know what they might be?

[hazman]

Iwould say they would be lucky.

That they haven’t been eaten to extinction.

[Farma]

Possibly a mongoose

[canuckamuck]

There are species of weasels here in SE Asia (e.g. mountain weasels), I once saw something similar to a martin, which had been killed by a villager, this would fit your observation.

Edited March 19, 2010 by canuckamuck

[Chinavet]

Charles M. Francis book Mammals of Thailand & S.E. Asia would indicate not many choices to your description. A Javan Mongoose seems like the best bet because it eats rats, birds, eggs, insects and reptiles. A Yellow-Throated Marten is the next outside possibility..

I'm amazed to find there are more than rats and squirrels in our area.

[gardenubon]

i have seen what seems to be the same animal, a number of times running across the road. this is just out side our village in the national park, but i know people here would shoot it on sight!

[canuckamuck]

i have seen what seems to be the same animal, a number of times running across the road. this is just out side our village in the national park, but i know people here would shoot it on sight!

That is true, when we saw the Marten type animal my wife told my that they were hated, particularly because they feed on chickens. They are known to be vicious, which is true of most of the weasel family.

[Nignoy]

i have seen what seems to be the same animal, a number of times running across the road. this is just out side our village in the national park, but i know people here would shoot it on sight!

That is true, when we saw the Marten type animal my wife told my that they were hated, particularly because they feed on chickens. They are known to be vicious, which is true of most of the weasel family.

Could also be the lesser yellow throated wigan supporter , commonly seen skulking around the meat and potato pie fields after sunrise , also been known to sneak into warrington at night and plunder Kebab shop bins

[isanbirder]

I think they were probably mongooses (unfortunately mongeese, which would be much nicer, is wrong); this was my first thought, but I wasn't sure they occurred here. I showed a picture to several locals (this is in Buriram), and they said yes, they had them here; this is not the best evidence, as people tend to say that if they think that's what you want them to say! They are, of course, highly beneficial animals; they eat snakes and rats for preference (though I suppose a nice chicken wouldn't come amiss).

Previous to this, the last time I saw one was on TV. It was running round the outfield in an international cricket match somewhere in India!

[Dave the Dude]

I have seen simular running across the roads around Surin

[Prajak]

How do you know it was a mammal ?

[bartender100]

Coypu?, eaten to extinction in Norfolk

[isanbirder]

How do you know it was a mammal ?

What else could it have been? Scotch mist?

[isanbirder]

Coypu?, eaten to extinction in Norfolk

No coypu here (the wrong shape anyway). Glad to hear they're extinct in Norfolk; they didn't belong there anyway.

[Dave the Dude]

How do you know it was a mammal ?

have you a better suggestion,then

[isanbirder]

How do you know it was a mammal ?

have you a better suggestion,then

You're so much more polite than me, Dave! (I never know what the emoticons mean) I did, very briefly, consider a monitor lizard, but they don't stand up on their hind legs! apart from being the wrong shape and moving differently.

[track61]

"How do you know it was a mammal ?

"

It was whacking off. Quite a feat whilst running cross the bund, only a mammal could do that?

[CelticBhoy]

Forget the mammal, just tell me what a 'bund' is.

[isanbirder]

Forget the mammal, just tell me what a 'bund' is.

A raised walkway or embankment between two fields/ponds; in this case it was wide enough to be a motorable track.

[Dave the Dude]

How do you know it was a mammal ?

have you a better suggestion,then

You're so much more polite than me, Dave! (I never know what the emoticons mean) I did, very briefly, consider a monitor lizard, but they don't stand up on their hind legs! apart from being the wrong shape and moving differently.

But I do have my moments, IB.

What I have seen is covered with dark hair, so I think(assume) that rules out lizards.

Maybe it was a gremlin?

[dave30]

A ' retired ' Bar Girl returning home to tend to her sick buffalo's ?

[isanbirder]

Maybe it was a gremlin?

Like almost everything else in Thailand, it was a 'pi'!

[Briggsy]

They are almost without doubt Javan mongooses. They feed on aquatic animals like frogs, lizards and crabs that are found in paddy fields and the irrigation ditches around them. They are a common sight in rice fields throughout SE Asia and beyond.

Yellow-throated martens are considerably bigger and usually only seen in relatively undisturbed environments e.g. Kaeng Krajan. You can discount these.

Mammals are difficult to see in Thailand due to hunting, the dense vegetation and the fact that most species are nocturnal.

I would put a large wager on Javan mongooses as they are diurnal and prefer more open habitats.

[isanbirder]

I came to this conclusion several posts ago (before we all started getting frivolous). It's nice to have somebody who seems to know something about it agreeing with me. But not a common sight here. I'm out walking through the rice fields for a couple of hours virtually every morning before it gets too hot, and I've only seen two in 18 months.

They must be having a hard time these days, as there's very little vegetation left, and the irrigation ditches are almost all dried up.

Edited March 21, 2010 by isanbirder

[Naam]

How do you know it was a mammal ?

perhaps it had tits and nipples?

[thommo46]

Forget the mammal, just tell me what a 'bund' is.

A bund is a dyke.

[CelticBhoy]

Forget the mammal, just tell me what a 'bund' is.

A bund is a dyke.

Is it Aussie slang, coz I never heard it before?

[isanbirder]

Is it Aussie slang, coz I never heard it before?

No, bund is originally an Indian word, Hindi, I think. I learnt it when we used to go birdwatching on the marshes in Hong Kong, and we walked along these embankments which we called bunds... so I automatically used it for the ricefield dividers here. What do you call them? (Dike/dyke normally means the ditch rather than the earth cast up to dig it, though it can mean either).

[CelticBhoy]

^ I think I would call it an 'embankment'.

But I'm going to enjoy using 'bund' now.

Cheers.

[bellagrego]

That would be called "LUNCH".