mongoose

A mongoose is a small to medium-sized carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. The group comprises about 30 species distributed across Africa, southern Europe, the Middle East, and southern Asia. Mongooses typically have elongated bodies, short legs, and agile, dexterous paws. They occupy a variety of habitats including forests, grasslands, scrub, and human-altered landscapes, often using burrows, rock crevices, or his own shelter.

Most mongooses are diurnal or crepuscular and show a range of social structures from solitary to highly social, depending on species. They are versatile foragers, feeding on insects, small vertebrates, birds, eggs, and fruit. A well-known behavior is their willingness to confront venomous snakes; some species hunt snakes and have developed strategies to avoid bites. In certain species, resistance to some snake venoms has been documented, though this is not universal and does not confer immunity to all venomous bites.

Reproduction varies with species, but many have seasonal or year-round breeding with litter sizes typically from two to six offspring. Gestation periods are often around 50 to 70 days. Conservation status also varies: several species are widespread and common, while others face habitat loss, competition, or persecution in some regions.

In culture and human use, mongooses appear in folklore and stories and are sometimes kept as pets or used for pest control, with practices and legality differing by region. The term Mongoose can also refer to a modern software library for MongoDB in the Node.js ecosystem, which is unrelated to the animal but shares the name.