Mongoose

? Mongooses
Dwarf Mongoose
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Herpestidae Bonaparte, 1845
Subfamiles
Herpestinae Galidiinae

A mongoose is any member of the Herpestidae family of small, cat-like carnivores. Mongooses are found in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and southern Europe. There are more than thirty species, ranging between one and four feet in length. Mongooses feed on insects, crabs, earthworms, lizards (including iguanas), and other small creatures (as well as eggs and sometimes fruits), but they are best known for their ability to fight and kill venomous snakes such as cobras ( ophiophagy). They are able to do this because of their speed, agility and cunning.

Some species of mongoose can be easily domesticated and trained to fight. They are fairly intelligent and can be taught simple tricks, so they are often kept as pets to protect the home from vermin. However, they can be more destructive than desired; when imported into the West Indies for the purpose of killing rats, they destroyed most of the small, ground-based fauna. Because of this, it is illegal to import mongooses into the United States, Australia and other countries. Mongooses are widespread in Hawaii, and have had a significant impact on native species. Mongooses are sometimes refered to as "the most dangerous animals on the planet" for this reason.

In Okinawa, Japan, there is/was a tourist attraction of dueling mongoose and a local venomous snake, habu, where the two animals were placed in a closed perimeter and watched by spectators. However, due to pressure from animal rights activists, the spectacle is less common today.

The most famous popular fictional mongoose appears in the Jungle Book: Rudyard Kipling's " Rikki-Tikki-Tavi". Kipling describes the adventures of a young mongoose defending his human family from a pair of murderous cobras.

The plural form of mongoose is typically written mongooses. The variation mongeese is rarely used since the words goose and mongoose are linguistically unrelated. [1]. An in-joke in some hacker society states that the plural of mongoose should be polygoose.

Herpestinae

Herpestinae is a subfamily of Mongoose. They are cat-like carnivorans. General features and members of the family balaku. The mongooses belong to one of four families of terrestrial cat-like mammals descended from the Viverraines, which were civet/ genet-like mammals. The mongoose family is a close evolutionary relation of the family Viverridae and mongooses are sometimes classified as members of this family. However mongooses have characteristic and distinguishing morphological and behavioural features. In contrast to the arboreal, nocturnal viverrids, mongooses are more commonly terrestrial and many are active during the day. Most are solitary like the Egyptian mongoose but a few, for example meerkats, have well-developed social systems.

Mongooses have long faces and bodies, small rounded ears, short legs and long tapering tails. Most are brindled or grizzled; few have strongly marked coats.

Less diverse than the viverrids, the 35 species and 17 genera of mongooses are assigned to only two subfamilies. The subfamily Herpestinae comprises 30 species of African and Asian mongooses, including the Cape gray mongoose, the Egyptian mongoose and the meerkat or suricate. The subfamily Galidiinae comprises the five species of Madagascan mongooses.

Mongooses are distributed throughout North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Asia living in a variety of habitats from forests to open woodland, savanna, semi-desert and desert. Chiefly terrestrial some are aquatic or semi-arboreal.

The Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) is sometimes held as an example of a solitary mongoose, though they have been observed to work in groups also. [2]

The meerkat or suricate (Suricata suricatta) lives in troops of 2- 3 families each comprising a male, a female and 2 - 5 offspring in open country in Southern Africa (Angola, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa). Meerkats are small, diurnal mammals foraging for invertebrates in open country. Their behaviour and small size (they weigh less than a kg) makes them very vulnerable to larger carnivores and birds of prey. To protect the foraging troops from predators, one meerkat serves as a sentinel - climbing to an exposed vantage point and scanning the surroundings for danger. If the sentinel detects a predator it gives a loud alarm call to warn the troop and indicate if the threat comes from the air or the ground. If from the air, the meerkats rush as fast as they can to the nearest hole. If from the ground, the troop flees but not quite so fast as meerkats are more able to evade terrestrial predators than airborne raptors.

Mongooses are mainly carnivorous feeding on small vertebrates, insects and other invertebrates, crabs, fish, birds' eggs plus carrion and fruit. Their long non-retractile claws are used to dig for food: the mongoose sniffs along the surface of the ground and when it finds an insect it snaps it up or, if necessary, digs it out. Some species, e.g. H. edwardsii, the Indian gray mongoose, kill and eat venomous snakes. Their basic dental formula is the same as the viverrids.

Classification

• FAMILY HERPESTIDAE
  • Subfamily Herpestinae
    • Genus Atilax
      • Marsh Mongoose, Atilax paludinosus
    • Genus Bdeogale
      • Bushy-tailed Mongoose, Bdeogale crassicauda
      • Jackson's Mongoose, Bdeogale jacksoni
      • Black-footed Mongoose, Bdeogale nigripes
    • Genus Crossarchus
      • Alexander's Cusimanse, Crossarchus alexandri
      • Ansorge's Cusimanse, Crossarchus ansorgei
      • Long-nosed Cusimanse, Crossarchus obscurus
    • Genus Cynictis
      • Yellow Mongoose, Cynictis penicillata
    • Genus Dologale
      • Pousargues's Mongoose, Dologale dybowskii
    • Genus Helogale
      • Desert Dwarf Mongoose, Helogale hirtula
      • Desert Mongoose, Helogale parvula
    • Genus Herpestes
      • Short-tiled Mongoose, Herpestes brachyurus
      • Indian Gray Mongoose, Herpestes edwardsii
      • Egyptian Mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon
      • Indian or Javan Mongoose, Herpestes javanicus
      • Long-nosed Mongoose, Herpestes naso
      • Bengal Mongoose, Herpestes palustris
      • Collared Mongoose, Herpestes semitorquatus
      • Ruddy Mongoose, Herpestes smithii
      • Crab-eating Mongoose, Herpestes urva
      • Striped-necked Mongoose, Herpestes vitticollis
    • Genus Ichneumia
      • White-tailed Mongoose, Ichneumia albicauda
    • Genus Liberiictus
      • Liberian Mongoose, Liberiictis kuhni
    • Genus Mungos
      • Gambian Mongoose, Mungos gambianus
      • Banded Mongoose, Mungos mungo
    • Genus Paracynictis
      • Selous's Mongoose, Paracynictis selousi
    • Genus Rhynchogale
      • Meller's Mongoose, Rhynchogale melleri
    • Genus Suricata
      • Meerkat, Suricata suricatta
  • Subfamily Galidiinae
    • Genus Galidia
      • Ring-tailed Mongoose, Galidia elegans
    • Genus Galidictis
      • Broad-striped Mongoose, Galidictis fasciata
      • Giant-striped Mongoose, Galidictis grandidieri
    • Genus Mungotictis
      • Narrow-striped Mongoose, Mungotictis decemlineata
    • Genus Salanoia
      • Brown-tailed Mongoose, Salanoia concolor