Egyptian Mongoose, Large Grey Mongoose. This species is found mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal and Gambia to East Africa, then southwards in Angola, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. It is present in Gabon only in the south, but Bahaa-el-din et al. (2013) recently recorded the species 105 km north of its previously known range. It is absent from much of southern Africa, but present in north-east Namibia, northern Botswana, northern and eastern Zimbabwe and all along the South African coastline (Palomares 2013). In North Africa, it ranges in a narrow coastal strip from Western Sahara to Tunisia, and also from northern and eastern Egypt southwards to Ethiopia (Palomares 2013). It has been reported to 3,000 m a.s.l. in the Ethiopian highlands (Yalden et al. 1996). This species has not been introduced to Madagascar (Goodman 2012), contrary to what may have been suggested in some sources (e.g., Haltenorth and Diller 1980). Extralimitally to the African mainland, this species is also found from the Sinai Peninsula to the south of Turkey (Delibes 1999), and on the Iberian Peninsula in southern and central Portugal (Borralho et al. 1995) and south-western Spain (Delibes 1999). At the beginning of the 20th century, some records originated from the north-western part of the Iberian Peninsula (Delibes 1999). An individual was also recorded near Leon (Castile and Leon, Spain; Palacios et al. 1992). The Egyptian Mongoose was initially believed to have been introduced by humans into Europe, based on zoogeographical considerations (Delibes 1999) and on the grounds that the species is absent from the European fossil record, although late Pleistocene and Holocene fossils are known from North Africa (Dobson 1998). However, a recent molecular and phylogeographic study rather supported a scenario of sweepstake dispersal across the strait of Gibraltar during Late Pleistocene sea-level fluctuations, followed by long-term in situ evolution throughout the last glaciation cycles.