318 Introduction Te banded mongoose ( Mungos mungo) is a small (~1.5 kg) cooperative mammal (Carnivora: Herpestidae) which is distributed widely throughout sub-Saharan Africa (Figure 18.1). Te species has been studied at sites in the Serengeti (Waser et al. 1995), South Africa (Hiscocks and Perrin 1991), and Botswana (Alexander et al. 2002, 2010; Laver et al. 2012), but most of what is known about the life history and social behavior of this species comes from a long-term study of a popula- tion living on and around Mweya peninsula in western Uganda. Jon Rood of the Smithsonian Institute initiated study of banded mongooses at Mweya in the early 1970s and provided tantalizing insights into its social and reproductive behavior. For example, Rood confrmed earlier reports that multiple females in each group became pregnant in each breeding attempt (Rood 1975); discovered that males guard young ofspring at the den while lactating females go of to forage (Rood 1974); and described striking examples of altruism, such as one case where an adult mongoose scaled a tree to rescue a groupmate from the clutches (literally) of a martial eagle (Rood 1983). Unfortunately, polit- ical instability in the region prevented further work until the early 1990s, when Daniela de Luca from the Institute of Zoology in London returned to continue Rood’s research (De Luca and Ginsberg 2001). Te cur- rent project was started in 1995 by the senior author and Tim Clutton-Brock, and the population has been studied continuously since then. Banded mongooses: demography, life history, and social behavior Michael A. Cant, Hazel J. Nichols, Faye J. Thompson, and Emma Vitikainen 18 Cooperative Breeding in Vertebrates: Studies of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, eds W. D. Koenig and J. L. Dickinson. Published by Cambridge University Press. © Cambridge University Press 2016. 9781107043435c18_p318-337.indd 318 9781107043435c18_p318-337.indd 318 9/28/2015 4:15:28 PM 9/28/2015 4:15:28 PM