Mongoose (photo): Fearless hunter on kite | Online pet magazine ALFA-CDS.COM

Classification

View: Mongoose (Herpestes)

Family: Viverra

Subfamily: Mongoose

Order: Predatory

Class: Mammals

Type: Chordates

Subtype: Vertebrates

Kingdom: Animals

Dimensions: body length: 20-75 cm; mass body: from 1.5 to 6 kg

Life expectancy: 6 to 8 years on nature, in captivity – up to 12 years

Mongoose is a predatory animal. It can be beneficial killing poisonous snakes and harm, exterminating small domestic animals.

Mongooses use snakes as food quite rarely. However, if a reptile threatens their lives, they will certainly come in with fight her.

Mongoose is a collective animal. Animals unite in groups and live as one family. Their main food is insects. Partially these predators are arboreal.

In India, the animal is often bred as a snake hunter and rodents settling in houses. However, contrary to popular belief, mongooses are not immune to reptile venom. They are just less susceptible to it.

And if the mongoose can still fight with a small snake, then black mamba or python he doesn’t to overcome.

Mongooses are able to quickly exterminate all mice and rats in the house.

Content

1 Habitat
2 Characteristic
3 Appearance
4 Key Features
5 Nutrition
6 Reproduction
7 Parenting
8 Contents
9 Relations with people

Habitat

In modern times, the habitat of the mongoose captures some territories of Africa, Asia and Southwest Europe.

Since ancient times, he chose as a place of residence east of the Arabian Peninsula. There is an animal on territories of such states as Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan.

Their acclimatization quickly took place in India (in Jamaica) and in Hawaii The animal was even brought to Italy.

All this was done so that he, being an excellent hunter, exterminated snakes and rodents. However, there mongooses have greatly bred and began to destroy animals that benefit people.

Small domestic animals have also been attacked more than once by side of these agile predators. Similar circumstances have become the reason for the ban on the import of mongooses into the territory of many countries, but this did not stop the remaining animals from continuing to breed.

They easily adapt to different conditions: animals can settle in a semi-desert with an overgrown carpet from shrubs and in tropical rainforests where grassy plants reliably hide them from prying eyes.

Mongooses dig their holes in the sand or build homes at the roots trees. Some species settle in low hollows

Characteristic

The very extensive mongoose family includes as many as 35 species, united in 14 genera. The most famous of them are following individuals.

Common Mongoose or Indian Mungo (Herpestes edwardsii) – It has a light gray wool with a touch of silver. Animal habitat – Africa, Asia (West Indies, Burma) and southwestern part of Europe (Italy).
Javanese Mongoose (Herpestes javanicus) – painted in gray or golden brown color. Occurs from the territory of northern India to south china. Distributed on the islands of Java, Borneo, Sumatra.
Striped mongoose or mungo (Mungos mungo) – it is also called zebra It happens both whitish and brown. Homeland animal – southern and central parts of Africa (Gambia).
Yellow or fox-shaped mongoose (Cynictis penicillata) – has a color depending on the distribution area of the animal. Individuals living closer to the south are endowed with reddish hair with an admixture of yellow, and those living to the north are painted yellow-gray. Them Homeland – South Africa.
Dwarf mongoose (Helogale parvula) – has a gray or Brown color. Among them are absolutely black individuals. They are found in South and East Africa.

Interesting! No matter how looks like a mongoose and what kind of species is it, in case of danger it always makes sounds like loud growls, sneezes and even purr.

This animal prefers to build its home near any source of fresh water

Appearance

Some people do not have a clear idea of how looks like a mongoose. The weight of an adult varies from 1.5-6 kg

It is worth noting that there are many different species, differing in terms of color and body structure. Most often, their hair plain gray or brownish color.

However, there are species having tawny, gray-greenish and light silver colors. Individual individuals as well sometimes cubs also have a pattern consisting of rings on tail.

In some animals, stripes of different sizes run throughout the body. Mongoose hair is soft and hard, long and short. Her structure and length allow you to determine the type of animal.

The head of the animal is small, and the muzzle has a pointed form. The ears of the predator are also small, rounded and practically inconspicuous. The body of the animal is elongated and moderately thin.

It ends with a long and fluffy tail, which happens more than the mongoose itself. Short legs of an animal are more often painted in dark colors.

Interesting! Mongoose is often called “pharaonic rat.” The fact is that these animals among the ancient Egyptians were considered sacred. They were embalmed and buried with all honors.

The mongoose eye has a very unusual pupil – horizontal. It makes his look sly and insightful.

Key Features

Brisk mongooses mainly lead a daytime lifestyle, and at night sleeping, however, here again everything depends on the species.

Nora the animal is invisible to the surrounding eyes, since the entrance there he always tries to disguise himself. Animals usually hunt in within your home (within a radius of 1 km). They possess the following important for a predator qualities:

sharp vision and a delicate sense of smell, but as for hearing, he the animal is weak by nature, but this does not prevent him from hunting;
fantastic speed, as well as resourcefulness (their speed reactions is one of the highest animals in the world);
special battle strategy (no matter who the enemy is in front of him or the victim – the mongoose discourages everyone with its sharp lunges);
thick and dense fur that can protect the body animal from bites of snakes (in particular, cobra);
long and sharp claws and teeth capable of causing the adversary is seriously injured or damaged;
ability to emit a pungent odor emanating from special glands at the anus, which often saves the animals from danger.

Interesting! Natural dexterity as well also the unusual maneuverability of these animals brought about armed forces of Russia on the idea of creating a high-speed boat, which received название Mongoose . He first appeared in 2000.

The cunning animal often waits for his more powerful victim. completely spend all his strength for an attack. After that he himself goes on the attack

Food

All mongooses are divided into groups (20-25 individuals). Usually they build one common dwelling, which can lead several inputs.

Members of one group recognize each other by a special smell. Between they make voice contact by whistling, screaming and other sounds.

The diet of the animal includes:

fruits and berries (they can eat both animal and vegetable food, gathering);
insects, as well as their larvae (animals find them by examining grassy bumps and piles of leaves foliage);
small reptiles and amphibians (there is even a special species mongooses eating crab);
chicks and eggs of birds (the animal adapted to break their shell about nearby stones);
large reptiles (sometimes these are snakes on which mongooses prey flocks and less often alone, which can be seen in the photo below).

While some members of the group feed, a couple of others necessarily monitors the environment. When the enemy appears they report it to the rest.

The enemies of mongooses are jackals, snakes and birds of prey.

Hearing a signal warning of an impending threat, the animals instantly disappear in shelters: between the roots of trees, in crevices rocks or dug minks specially for such a case.

Interesting! Mongoose introduced people to America were not agile enough to deal with rattlesnakes plaguing local farmers. IN reaction plan reptiles acted faster than small predators.

Mongooses try not to attack the royal cobras, however, if the battle still took place, they will fight until the last

Breeding

With the onset of the mating season, between mongoose males arises strong competition. In each group there is always a leader who marks all its members, as well as the boundaries of its site with a secret anal glands.

He has the unconditional right to mate with any female. what concerns other mongooses, in their behavior they can divided into 2 types.

The first type is dominant. Such males behave aggressive towards relatives trying to gain attention females and mate with them.

These individuals are focused on procreation. Second type mongooses forced to be content with free females in the group. They pay special attention to the care of offspring.

A sufficient amount of food is needed to breed mongooses and water. As soon as they feel that there is enough food left for a long time, they are preparing to breed.

After a short mating ritual and repeated mating, the female begins to wait for the baby to be born.

Before childbirth, she covers her nest with dry herbs. After 2 months babies are born (usually 3-4 cubs per litter). It is amazing how the mongoose, recently born, looks like.

Although the kids are deprived of vision and hearing, they are already equipped with sharp claws. The crumbs weigh about 20 g.

The first weeks of life they spend with their mother, eating her milk, in a mink underground, and by the month already begin to get out from there.

Animals living in humid places acquire offspring much more often than their relatives living in dry areas

Offspring

As soon as the cubs get out of the hole, they almost immediately start eating solid food. At the age of 2 weeks, babies gain sight and hearing, so they can only learn to hunt.

Adult members of the group sometimes bring food to the cubs, and the females mongooses are fed with milk not only their own, but also those of other “children”.

Interesting! These animals grow their little ones all together. Upon reaching 3-4 months young the animal gains a patron who takes care of his specific time and teaches the necessary skills. So the younger generation in the group is provided with reliable care.

At 5 months, the young animal no longer needs a maternal milk. Then the feeding stops. The mongoose female reaches puberty by 9 months, and the male – only by the year. Little animals lives to an age when you can have offspring, so how many enemies they have.

Grown mongooses usually leave their group in neighboring ones, where then produce offspring.

So, degeneration due to closely related crossing by this small predators are not threatened. Wildlife lovers often succeed take a photo of animals from an interesting angle.

Mongooses easily adapt to life at the zoo and are capable of breed in captivity

Content

In India, the animal has long been domesticated. Separate entrepreneurs in this country create special nurseries where bred mongooses.

There they sold their grown cubs. If you want to take a small predator in his house, you need to know some points about him content.

A mongoose needs a spacious cage. Animal can’t sit for a long time in a cramped and enclosed space. There him getting bored.
Inside the cell, you need to make the appropriate environment: place a pair of snags, put a ball or some other a toy, put a tray for the needs of the mongoose.
In food, the animal is unpretentious. He can be given meat, fish, eggs in raw form, cottage cheese, vegetables and fruits. The diet is better to do diverse, combining animal and plant foods.
To watch what the mongoose looks like during a hunt, sometimes he can bring a mouse, a cockroach or a frog into the cage. With snakes in this case is not worth experimenting.

Interesting! Mongooses became famous among people after the release of the story of R. Kipling “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”, where the main character – the mongoose – subsequently saved the child and his whole family from cobras.

Mongoose is easily tamed, affectionate caress and love the owner

Do not contain mongoose with pets such as squirrels degu and lemmings – he take them as a delicacy for lunch.

Relationship with people

Mongoose cubs get used to people faster than adults. The latter will take some time to establish contact with by man.

At first, the animal can even use its teeth and claws. Not it is worth forgetting that this is a predator, albeit small, and with it it is necessary behave carefully.

Another inconvenience that a mongoose can deliver to its the owner – a specific smell, just like the snarl that the animal publishes, thanks odorous glands. He also likes to mark his territory.

You need to get used to this and do not scold the pet without significant causes.

Sometimes an animal can be released from the cage so that it is slightly frolic. So the owner will see how the mongoose looks in the game.

However, in no case should he be left unattended: he able to gnaw furniture, dig out a lawn, break something and even run away.