Kallarwas is a village situated about 15 km from Udaipur city in Rajasthan. On 13^th March 1993 an Albino Common Mongoose was sighted by S. S. Chawra and me near the fence of an agricultural field. It soon disappeared.

We were excited at the sighting of this attractive snow-white mongoose. For the next three days we combed the area to take photographs of this beautiful little animal.

On the third day at about 05.15PM we sighted it emerging from a hole in a nullah. After being in the nullah bed for a few moments it again disappeared in a dense patch of undergrowth. We took a few photographs with a 200mm tele-lens.

Again in the month of April we had a glimpse of this mongoose. This time three young ones were trailing behind it, which confirmed that the albino was a female. All the three young were of normal colour.

It roamed in about a square kilometer area consisting of agricultural fields, scrubland and a nullah. Inquiries from villagers residing nearby revealed that they had seen other litters of this female in the last two years, but found all the off-springs of normal colour.

After consulting the Book of Indian Animals by S. H. Prater (Third impression 1990) we concluded that albinism in common mongoose has not been reported so far and this is the first sighting of an albino common mongoose.

Published in Journal of Bombay Natural History Society:

Tehsin, R. H. & Chawra, S. S. (1994) Albino Common Mongoose (Herpestes edwardsi Geoffroy) Sighted Near Udaipur. J. Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc. 91(2): 304