Common Mongoose

These guys are perhaps most famous for being the nightmare of snakes, even the deadliest of the bunch. They are either unaware of how poisonous some snakes might be or they are just foolish and brave like the Gorkhali warriors. They are quite meticulous, however. Their strategy is a headlong frontal attack, or a more circumspect waiting for an opportunity such as seizing the lowered head after the snake strikes. What protects the mongooses is its extreme agility in evading a bite. It is also true that the mongoose is less sensitive to the venom of snakes and is able to withstand doses of poison, unlike other animals. They also prey on rats and mice, lizards and frogs, insects, scorpions, and centipedes. Bird's eggs are their favorite as well and to some extent fruits and roots provide a variation to the customary diet of flesh. Like most carnivores, mongooses eat carrion and are frequently seen taking a share of the kills of large animals. They are tawny yellowish-grey with no stripe on the side of its neck. The alternate light and dark rings on its hairs give its coat a grizzled 'salt and pepper' tinge. The tail, which is as long as its body, is tipped with white or yellowish-red, never black. This is not the creature of forest, but of open lands, of scrub jungle, and cultivation. It lives in hedgerows and thickets, among groves of trees and cultivated fields, taking shelter under rocks or bushes, lying up in a hollow in the base of a tree trunk, or digging a hole for itself in the ground. Mongooses which have taken to living in towns or villages find shelter in the roofs and rafters, or in drains. They also make for charming and useful pets, speedily ridding a house of rats and vermin. They could be very useful, think about it!