Featured Animal: Mongoose

The mongoose is a small rodent-like mammal, the mongoose is similar in appearance to the meerkat and the weasel. Mongoose are naturally found in Asia, Africa and parts of Europe but the mongoose has also been artificially introduced to the Caribbean in more recent times.

The mongoose is an omnivore, meaning that mongoose eat both plants and animals. The mongoose in Africa has caught the attention of humans, as they appear to be almost immune the poison of a snake.

The mongoose is slightly lighter than the weasel, meaning that the mongoose is able to avert danger more readily than a weasel as a mongoose is able to see oncoming predators with greater ease.

There are thought to be around 30 different species of mongoose, some of which will only fend for themselves while other species of mongoose work together as a team. The different species of mongoose also vary in size ranging from less than 1 foot to nearly three foot in height.

Many species of mongoose have adapted to their particular habitat as some species of mongoose are found to live in the tops of trees where other species of mongoose have adapted to living partially in the water. A number of mongoose species are also known to have patterned fur or ringed tails, this however is not the case with every species of mongoose.

The typical mongoose has a long-shaped face and body, short legs and little round ears. Many mongoose individuals are found living in burrows which the mongoose tend to dig themselves, the mongoose however, will not pass up the opportunity to hide in an abandoned burrow of another small animal.

The female mongoose tends to produce only one litter of pups a year, but she is able to produce another litter if for some reason, the first litter is lost. The young mongooses are weaned at around 6 weeks old, and the baby mongooses then begin to forage with their mother until they are 4 months old. The male mongoose babies will leave their mother when they are around 6 months old, while the female mongoose babies will stay longer, sometimes even permanently.