Where do mongoose exist?
A type of viverrid are the mongooses, which are plantigrade having non-retracile claws, and a different form of scent glands. There are many species, the largest being rather bigger than a cat, but most are quite small.
The Ichneumon or Egyptian Mongoose was a sacred animal in ancient Egypt and was often mummified. Before the introduction of cats it kept the house free of rodents. It 4ab-feeds on all sorts Banded Mongoose of animals, including reptiles, and lives in thick vegetation by rivers, from north-east to South Africa. A sub-species in Spain and Portugal is called the Spanish Mongoose.
The Bandid Mongoose is duncoloured, with dark bands across the bands. Its range is from tropical Africa southwards. Two other African species are the White- tailed Mongoose, of Southern Arabia and Africa, south of the Sahara and the Marsh or water Mongoose found in Africa, south of the Sahara.
The Crab eating Mongoose is nearly 60 cm long without the tail. It is found in marshy valleys in the Himalayas, Assam, Burma and Malaya, where it lives on crabs, frogs and fishes. The Meerkat is a peculiar species of mongoose. A small and slender animals with a narrow snout extending well beyond the lips, it is a terrestrial South African animals and lives on small rodents and snakes.
