black-footed mongoose

{{Short description|Species of mongoose from Central Africa}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = Black-footed mongoose

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |title=Bdeogale nigripes |author=Angelici, F.M. |author2=Do Linh San, E. |date=2015 |page=e.T41592A45205243 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T41592A45205243.en}}

| genus = Bdeogale

| species = nigripes

| authority = Pucheran, 1855

| image =

| image_caption =

| range_map = Black-footed Mogoose area.png

| range_map_caption = Black-footed mongoose range

}}

The black-footed mongoose (Bdeogale nigripes) is a mongoose species native to Central Africa, where it inhabits deep deciduous forests from eastern Nigeria to the southern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008.

It is omnivorous and feeds on ants, termites, Orthoptera, small rodents, frogs, lizards and fruits.{{cite journal |author1=Ray, J. |author2=Sunquist, M. |year=2001 |title=Trophic relations in a community of African rainforest carnivores |journal=Oecologia |volume=127 |issue=3 |pages=395–408 |doi=10.1007/s004420000604 |pmid=28547110 |bibcode=2001Oecol.127..395R |s2cid=39830155}}{{cite journal |last1=Angelici, F. M. |year=2014 |title=Dietary habits of the Black-legged mongoose Bdeogale nigripes (Mammalia: Carnivora) in the rainforest of Southeastern Nigeria |journal=Italian Journal of Zoology |volume=81 |issue= 4|pages=544–551 |doi=10.1080/11250003.2014.940005 |s2cid=84242728}}

It is mostly solitary and nocturnal.{{cite book |title=The Mammals of Africa. V. Carnivores, Pangolins, Equids and Rhinoceroses |editor1-last=J. Kingdon, J. |editor2-last=Hoffmann, M. |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London, UK |year=2013 |author1=Van Rompaey, H. |author2=Colyn, M. |chapter=Bdeogale nigripes Black-legged Mongoose |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_07noCPc4kC&pg=RA4-PA327 |pages=326–328 |isbn=9781408189962}}

Results of genetic and morphological analyses indicate that the black-footed mongoose is closely related to Jackson's mongoose, which is considered conspecific.{{cite journal |author1=Perez, M. |author2=Li, B. |author3=Tillier, A. |author4=Cruaud, A. |author5=Veron, G. |year=2006 |title=Systematic relationships of the bushy-tailed and black-footed mongooses (genus Bdeogale, Herpestidae, Carnivora) based on molecular, chromosomal and morphological evidence |journal=Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=251–259 |doi=10.1111/j.1439-0469.2006.00359.x}}