The mongoose is any member of the Herpestidae family of small, cat-like carnivores. Mongooses come detected within Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and southern Europe. There are other than 30 species, ranging between one and four feet within length. Mongooses feed in insects, crabs, worms, lizards (including iguanas), and more little animals (also when eggs and occasionally fruits), but it is better known for their ability to fight & destroy venomous snakes such as cobras (ophiophagy). It is take a breath to clean this because of their speed, lightness, & trend lines to a venom of virtually all snakes (the vipers being the notable exception). These are said that occasionally mongooses may actually eat a venom secretory organ of snakes.

A select few mintage of mongoose may be well domestic. It is fairly intelligent & may be taught elementary tricks, thus it is typically saved when pets to protect a at home from either vermin. All a same, it may be further destructive than desired; after imported into the West Indies for the purpose of killing rats, they destroyed virtually all of the little, ground-depending fauna. Because of this, these are illegal to import mongooses into a United States, Australia and other countries. Mongooses come far flung around Hawaii, and will have the important impact in native metal money.

Within Okinawa, Japan, there is/was the holidaymaker attraction of dueling mongoose & a local venomous snake, habu, inside which them beast would exist as positioned in the closed perimeter & watched by spectators. All the same, animal rights activists complained about this indicate & demanded that it become close. Now, these are protective to buy this attraction.

A best known popular invented mongoose appears in the Jungle Book: Rudyard Kipling's "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi". Kipling describes the dangerous undertaking of the immature mongoose defending his individual personal from either a pair of homicidal cobras.

Since a word "goose" is linguistically unrelated to the word "mongoose," a plural form of mongoose is non "mongeese" however like "mongooses."

Classification
Personal HERPESTIDAE Subfamily Herpestinae Genus Atilax Marsh Mongoose, Atilax paludinosus Genus Bdeogale Bushy-tailed Mongoose, Bdeogale crassicauda Jackson's Mongoose, Bdeogale jacksoni Black-footed Mongoose, Bdeogale nigripes Genus Crossarchus Alexander's Cusimanse, Crossarchus alexandri Ansorge's Cusimanse, Crossarchus ansorgei Long-nosed Cusimanse, Crossarchus obscurus Genus Cynictis Yellow Mongoose, Cynictis penicillata Genus ''Dologale'' Pousargues's Mongoose, Dologale dybowskii Genus Helogale Desert Dwarf Mongoose, Helogale hirtula Desert Mongoose, Helogale parvula Genus Herpestes Short-tiled Mongoose, Herpestes brachyurus Indian Gray Mongoose, Herpestes edwardsii Egyptian Mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon Indian or Javan Mongoose, Herpestes javanicus Long-nosed Mongoose, Herpestes naso Bengal Mongoose, Herpestes palustris Collared Mongoose, Herpestes semitorquatus Ruddy Mongoose, Herpestes smithii Crab-eating Mongoose, Herpestes urva Striped-necked Mongoose, Herpestes vitticollis Genus Ichneumia White-tailed Mongoose, Ichneumia albicauda Genus Liberiictus Liberian Mongoose, Liberiictis kuhni Genus Mungos Gambian Mongoose, Mungos gambianus Banded Mongoose, Mungos mungo Genus ''Paracynictis'' Selous's Mongoose, Paracynictis selousi Genus ''Rhynchogale'' Meller's Mongoose, Rhynchogale melleri Genus Suricata Meerkat, Suricata suricatta Subfamily Galidiinae Genus Galidia Ring-tailed Mongoose, Galidia elegans Genus Galidictis Broad-striped Mongoose, Galidictis fasciata Giant-striped Mongoose, Galidictis grandidieri Genus Mungotictis Narrow-striped Mongoose, Mungotictis decemlineata Genus Salanoia Brown-tailed Mongoose, Salanoia concolor de:Mangusten es:Mangosta eo:Herpestedoj fr:Herpestidae fi:Mungo he:נמיה nl:Mangoest no:Mungofamilien ja:マングース sv:Mungo