Mongooses are small mammals.
There are many kinds of mongoose.
They live in Africa, India and Sri Lanka.
Most mongooses live on the ground.
They can kill and eat snakes.
The word for more than one mongoose is mongooses.
What is a mongoose?
Mongooses are small mammals that live in southern Asia, Africa, and southern Europe. There are different kinds of mongoose.
African banded mongoose. ©Getty
They are related to civet cats. Meerkats are a kind of mongoose. Mongooses live mainly on the ground but some kinds hunt in trees.
Appearance and Behaviours
Mongooses are small mammals about 40 centimetres long. Their slender bodies are covered with stiff and rough yellow-grey or brown-black hair. They have long faces and bodies, small, rounded ears, short legs, and long, tapering tails.
Mongoose © Getty Images
Mongooses are famously fierce and able to kill poisonous snakes such as the cobra. They do this by being quick enough to dodge out of the way as the snake tries to strike. The mongoose quickly seizes and kills the snake. They also kill poisonous scorpions. Scientists believe they are not affected by the venom.
People who live in areas where there are poisonous snakes and scorpions like to have a mongoose around.
What mongooses eat
Mongooses have long, pointed noses which they use to sniff for prey such as
insects and worms. Their sharp claws help them to dig up their prey. They also eat mice, rats, wild birds, spiders and other small animals. Mongooses eat bird's eggs too, which they throw on the ground with their front paws to smash them open.
Mongooses are mainly carnivorous (meat eaters) but some species will also eat fruit, nuts and seeds.
Mongoose Life cycle
Two young dwarf mongoose pups peeping out of their den in a termite mound, Tanzania. © Getty Images
Mongooses live alone although males will sometimes live together in small groups and share a burrow. After mating with a male mongoose the female is pregnant for up to 49 days. She gives birth to 2 to 5 young.
A mongoose in captivity can live for 20 years.
![Indian grey mongoose helps people by killing scorpions, rats and snakes.By J.M.Garg (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56a1a14b05caa7ee9f26f47d/1465174161914-I4L4YHAXZ5AW10WEQI11/image-asset.jpeg)
The Indian grey mongoose helps people by killing scorpions, rats and snakes.
By J.M.Garg (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
It’s a good idea to get information from more than one source!
Read about mongooses
https://easyscienceforkids.com/all-about-mongooses/
https://www.konnecthq.com/mongoose-facts/