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A
Guide to the: Large Grey Mongoose - Herpestes ichneumon
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The Large
Grey Mongoose is the largest of the mongooses in Africa and is found
in many other parts of the continent, including West Africa and Egypt's
Nile Valley. It is a relatively short-legged animal with an elongated
body, a long tail, and a pointed muzzle. It feeds on rodents, snakes,
lizards, frogs, fish and the eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds.
It sometimes hunts in shallow water, though generally steers clear of
deep water unless threatened. It is not a tree climber, and has the
wrong claws for this activity: instead it is a powerful digger, and
a specialist at excavating for beetles and other prey. Its coarse hair
helps to protect it from the poison fangs of the snakes it preys on,
conquering them through sheer agility. Enemies of the large grey mongoose
include larger birds of prey and the large carnivores. Family groups,
consisting of both parents and their young, move in a line in head-to-tail
formation, with the scent glands located near the anus helping to keep
the file in formation. Unlike other mongooses, they do not seem to make
use of the odour from these glands as a defensive weapon if trapped
or threatened by man, using their high pitched staccato distress call
instead. The large grey mongoose is more active by day than by night.
It sleeps in a sitting position in a burrow or crevice.
More facts about Large Grey Mongooses
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