Get your own
 diary at DiaryLand.com! contact me older entries newest entry
www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called Personal Photos. Make your own badge here.

11:05 p.m. - 2005-12-16
My sister's request
Happy Holidays, y'all! My Mom just informed me she thought there were two weeks before Christmas, instead of only one. Oh well!

In a brief critter report, my dear friends SH and PG hosted a rodent guest in their Minneapolis apartment! It seems as if PG was awakened in the early morning by a shriek from SH: "A mouse just ran across the kitchen!" But, the intruder was captured. SH told me, "Well, I don't know if it was the mouse, but SOMETHING was in the toaster!" Awesome! The toaster and the mouse were placed in a bag and evacuated to an outside garbage can. Good job, SH!

My family contacted me tonight while at work, first to greet me as they trimmed the tree, and secondly to have me help them locate Scotland on a globe. I guess the islands were only labeled as the United Kingdom with a dot on there for London...it was an old globe...never mind.

Now, I've mentioned my family many times; my Dad's trapping ability, my sister A's love of beavers, L's humping dog, and my Mom's futile search for shed deer antlers. So I asked my youngest sister, K, for a critter suggestion, and here it is: The mongoose!

The above picture is from probertencyclopedia.com. This weasel-like animal reminds me of elementary school (in more than one way!) In second grade there was this dark-haired boy named Aaron who had a stuffed mongoose! I think I hated that kid. Maybe I was just jealous of his wildlife display.

The mongoose is a coarsely furred mammal, the largest example being 20 inches long with a sixteen inch tail, and weighing five pounds. Also prominent are the mongoose's anal sacks.

Side note: I've certainly had prominent anal sacks in my day!

The purpose of the anal sacks is for communication by leaving scent markings. But when mongooses are traveling together, the follower will put its nose RIGHT UP TO THE LEADER'S ANAL GLANDS and walk directly behind it! When mongooses are isolated, they will smell their own butts!

Ok, back to the description! The mongoose's tail is larger and bushier than the body. These creatures have five toes, including good digging claws on the front feet. Mongooses are part of the carniverous Viveridae family. There are seventeen genera and 37 species of mongooses, including some species native to Madagascar and other islands. These creatures mostly populate Africa, the Middle East and Asia, with one type in Spain.

In the ancient Egyptian culture of 300 BC, mongooses were called "The Pharoah's Mouse" because they ate crocodile eggs in the Nile, keeping that reptile population down. Mongooses were used for entertainment as well; they were placed in arenas to battle snakes! This variety of mongoose is Herpestes ichneumon, commonly referred to in Egypt as ichneumons.

It seems the mongoose is mostly known for being a snake eater! It's true, mongooses can successfully fight poisonous cobras. They are not immune to the cobra venom, but can tolerate a bite, and can succesfully digest the snake's venom glands after killing them. The ability to kill poisonous snakes is not instinctual; young mongooses are often killed when they approach snakes. What the successful younglings learn is to provoke the snake until the reptile is tired, using speed, agility, timing, and the protection of their thick fur. Then the mongoose bites the snake's head, killing it! Mongooses enjoy eating many other things, including rats, mice, lizards and even fruit. Eggs are a special delicacy, but the mongoose breaks the shells in an interesting way: They chuck the egg through their rear legs onto a rock or other hard surface! Sort of like "granny style" bowling? Mongooses will also eat fruit and will dig for insects.

R really wants me to write about Rudyard Kipling's "Rikki Tikki Tavi", a story featuring a pet mongoose in India. But I don't think I've read the book! That mongoose species (Herpestes edwarsi) is the largest. Because of their appetite for the various pests listed above (rats, mice, bugs and especially snakes) mongooses were indeed domesticated. It seems they can be vicious too, so obtaining a young mongoose was important for assuring their docility as a pet.

Here is a picture of a baby mongoose from www.sanwild.org! Fuzzy!

Mongooses reach sexual maturity after about two years. Like other mammals, the female mongoose displays a red, swollen vulva when she is in heat. The males always pursue the females, and there is a period of foreplay. This includes the female mongoose squatting in front of the male and then running away!

(Isn't that advice given in the book "The Rules"?)

Anyway, actual mongoose copulation usually lasts about five minutes! The male bats his open mouth against the females throat during copulation. Two months later one to four baby mongooses are born, blind but covered with fur.

Not much is known about the social habits of the mongoose. Meerkats, (genus Suricata, a cousin of the mongoose) are social, and it seems mongooses can be as well. Groups of mongooses can be found where food is in abundance, but they will live alone as well, especially when conditions are rougher.

Well, lil sis K, are you happy with this mongoose write up?! If you're displeased you can always boycott my wedding....

Happy Christmas, Hotties!

Wendell!

|

previous - next

join my Notify List and get email when I update my site:
email:
Powered by NotifyList.com

about me - read my profile! read other Diar
yLand diaries! recommend my diary to a friend! Get
 your own fun + free diary at DiaryLand.com!