Have no fear, my adoring fans and lovers of animal knowledge!  I return to present more stuff about things and things about stuff.   Sorry about the hiatus, but with break and then 3 exams upon my return I was a tad preoccupied.  Anyway, so here's the next installment...from Foreverserenity's suggestion I now present to you the....

Egyptian Mongoose (AKA Ichneumon)  Herpestes ichneumon 

They're from the ol' Family Herpestidae which contains a lot of the mongooses today.  It also gives you a clue as to what the little critters eat.

*Note: there are 41 species of mongoose, so I went about picking one that seems typical of the species and it also helps a good bit to narrow it down to one particular species so I can be as specific and accurate as possible.  The Egyptian mongoose exemplifies mongooses pretty well, so most of what I say will relate pretty well to others.  Meerkats are also mongooses and while much of what I say will apply to them, but they are probably more deserving of their own feature if anyone suggests them at a later time.

The mongoose says, "Hello!"

Physical Characteristics:

This species is the largest of all African mongooses, weighing in at 4-9 lbs (1.8-4.1kg) and being 19-24 in (~48-60cm) long with a 13-21 in (~33-54cm) tail.  It has a slender body, short legs with 5 toes on each foot, pointed snout, and small ears.  The claws are not retractile.  It  has 35-40 teeth and highly developed carnassials, specifically designed for tearing into flesh.  The fur is long and coarse and can range from grey to reddish brown(often correlating to the local soil color) which is ticked with yellow or brown flecks; the tail has a black tip.  Only small areas around the eyes and the hind feet are hairless.

They contain a well-developed(better than an underdeveloped one, I guess) anal pouch that houses scent glands.  The scents produced are used for communication.

Habitat:

This mongoose may be found in Spain, Portugal, Israel, and most of sub-Saharan Africa, except for central Zaire, western South Africa, and Namibia. It has been introduced to Madagascar and Italy. 

It primarily inhabits forests, savannah, and scrub never far from a water source. They shelter at night in burrows, hollow logs, trees, or rock crevices.  They may also live with people if someone goes through the trouble of catching a young one and taming it.

Diet:

Carnivorous for the most part.  They pretty much eat anything that moves, well, that they're able to catch and kill:  rodents, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Fruit and eggs are also a part of the diet.(There's an interesting thing about cracking eggs I'll tell you about in behavior)

Oh, and yes...reptiles do include snakes as part of the diet, which of course the mongoose is famous for.

Behavior:

Diurnal.  The Egyptian mongoose lives either alone or in groups of up to 7 usually consisting of a male, some females, and their young. The group is known as a 'mongaggle.'(Yeah, a mongaggle of mongooses sounds weird, but whatever.)  Environmental factors, usually limited food availability, keeps the groups small.  While living in a group they will coordinate hunting and share food.

Hunting is what mongooses do best, this includes taking on venomous snakes.  In a ballsy attempt to get a meal, the mongoose will lure a snake into striking and quickly evade each time.  This continues until the snake tires at which point the mongoose rushes in and bites the head of the snake killing it in one fell swoop.  The interesting thing is that contrary to popular belief the mongoose is NOT immune to the venom, but rather possesses a pretty decent resistance to it(they can survive up to 13 times the lethal dose for mammals).  It primarily relies on its thick coat and reflexes to escape death. (I found a short video of this, it'll be in the comments.  No worries, nothing dies in the clip.)

Death blow.  (By the way, that's an Indian mongoose)

In addition to hunting, they'll also raid nests.  When they get an egg they'll do an odd little behavior similar to hiking a football(American football, that is. ) and whack the egg into something hard, usually a rock.  A mongoose positions the egg between it's legs and gives it a forceful thrust against a hard surface until it breaks open.  It's pretty neat.   (I'll put a video in the comments, check it out)

Males and females become sexually mature at two years of age. Mating occurs in July or August, and after a gestation period of 11 weeks, the female gives birth to 2-4 young. Egyptian Mongooses are blind and hairless when born, but open their eyes after about a week.  Scent marking is used to advertise when it's time to get busy.  There is some form of ritualized play fighting and chasing. Also, during courtship and mating a high pitched giggling sound is made. (Apparently because that's sexy)

Young males will often leave the group before one year of age.  Females stick around longer and may never leave.  Most wild mongooses live for around 12 years, in captivity the record is 20 years.

Interesting Facts:

The word mongoose is derived from the Marathi word mangus.

Technically the plural is "mongooses" because the word isn't related to the root that gives us "goose" but some dictionaries recognize "mongeese" as well.

Mongooses have been associated with humans possibly starting with the ancient Egyptians. It is found in frescoes and reliefs dating as far back as 2800 B.C. The animal was often embalmed in Egypt and believed to embody a number of gods.

As mentioned above, mongooses are often tamed and kept as pets mostly because they will keep away snakes and rodents...by you know, eating them.   They can also be taught simple tricks.  They're smart little buggers.

In some places, fights are held between mongooses and snakes for entertainment and betting, often set up in a large transparent box.  Lovely species we are, huh?

The short story from The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi features a heroic young mongoose that saves its family from a cobra.

They are also capable of having a wide range of vocalizations if they are one of the more social species.

The Egyptian mongoose is not threatened at all.  In fact, the habitat is crawling with them.  Their numbers may threaten other species, though.

Oh...and they're kinda cute.

Well, now you know more about mongooses.   Or...Egyptian mongooses at the very least.

~Zoo