Amongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorousmammal belonging to the familyHerpestidae. This family is currently split into two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to southern Europe, Africa and Asia, whereas the Mungotinae comprises 11 species native to Africa.[2]
The Herpestidae originated about 21.8 ± 3.6 million years ago in the Early Miocene and genetically diverged into two main genetic lineages between 19.1 and 18.5 ± 3.5 million years ago.[3]
The form of the English name (since 1698) was altered to its "-goose" ending by folk etymology.[12] It was spelled "mungoose" in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Mongooses have long faces and bodies, small, rounded ears, short legs, and long, tapering tails. Most are brindled or grizzly; a few have strongly marked coats which bear a striking resemblance to mustelids. Their nonretractile claws are used primarily for digging. Mongooses, much like goats, have narrow, ovular pupils. Most species have a large anal scent gland, used for territorial marking and signaling reproductive status. The dental formula of mongooses is 3.1.3–4.1–23.1.3–4.1–2.
They range from 24 to 58 cm (9.4 to 22.8 in) in head-to-body length, excluding the tail. In weight, they range from 320 g (11 oz) to 5 kg (11 lb).[14]
Phylogenetic research of 18 mongoose species revealed that the solitary and social mongooses form different clades.[54]
The phylogenetic relationships of Herpestidae are shown in the following cladogram:[55][3]
Some species can learn simple tricks. They can be tamed and are kept as pets to control vermin.[58]
Cultural significance
In ancient Mesopotamia, mongooses were sacred to the deity Ninkilim, who was conflated with Ningirama, a deity of magic who was invoked for protection against serpents. According to a Babylonian popular saying, when a mouse fled from a mongoose into a serpent's hole, it announced, "I bring you greetings from the snake-charmer!" A creature resembling a mongoose also appears in Old Babylonian glyptic art, but its significance is not known.[59]
All mongoose species, except for Suricata suricatta, are classed as a "prohibited new organism" under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing them from being imported into the country.[60]
A well-known fictional mongoose is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, who appears in a short story of the same title in The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling. In this tale set in India, a young pet mongoose saves his human family from a krait and from Nag and Nagaina, two cobras. The story was later made into several films and a song by Donovan, among other references. A mongoose is also featured in Bram Stoker's novel The Lair of the White Worm. The main character, Adam Salton, purchases one to independently hunt snakes. Another mongoose features in the denouement of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Crooked Man", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Indian Tamil devotional film Padai Veetu Amman shows Tamil actor Vinu Chakravarthy changing himself into a mongoose by using his evil tantric mantra, to fight the goddess Amman. However, the mongoose finally dies at the hands of the goddess.
Mongoose species are prohibited to be kept as pets in the United States.[61]
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^Valentini, M.B. & Major, J.D. (1714). "Viverra Indica grysea. Mungos". Museum museorum, oder, Vollständige Schau Bühne aller Materialien und Specereyen. Vol. 2 Appendix IX. Franckfurt am Mayn: Johann David Zunners Sel. Erben, und Johann Adam Jungen. p. 24.
^Jerdon, T.C. (1874). "127. Herpestes griseus". The mammals of India; a natural history of all the animals known to inhabit continental India. London: J. Wheldon. pp. 132–134.
^Lydekker, R. (1894). "XIII. The Mungooses. Genus Herpestes". A hand-book to the Carnivora. Part 1: Cats, civets, and mungooses. London: Edward Lloyd Limited. pp. 244–269.
^Reeve, W. & Sanderson, D. (1858). "ಮುಂಗಿ, ಮುಂಗಿಸಿ, ಮುಂಗುಲಿ". A dictionary, Canarese and English (Revised, corrected and enlarged ed.). Bangalore: Wesleyan Mission Press. p. 787.
^Forsyth, M. (2012). "Folk etymology". The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language. Penguin Books. p. 77. ISBN978-1-101-61176-0.
^Hinton, H. E. & Dunn, A. M. S. (1967). "Preface". Mongooses: Their Natural History and Behaviour. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. v. OCLC1975837.
^Macdonald, D., ed. (2009). The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 660. ISBN978-0-19-956799-7.
^Drabeck, D. H.; Dean, A. M.; Jansa, S. A. (2015). "Why the honey badger don't care: Convergent evolution of venom-targeted nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in mammals that survive venomous snake bites". Toxicon. 99: 68–72. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2015.03.007. PMID25796346.
^Bonaparte, C. L. (1845). "Fam. VII. Viverridae". Catalogo Methodico dei Mammiferi Europei. Milan, Italy: L. di Giacomo Pirola. p. 8.
^Linnaeus, C. (1758). "Viverra ichneumon". Caroli Linnæi Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Vol. Tomus I (Decima, reformata ed.). Holmiae: Laurentius Salvius. p. 41. (in Latin)
^Rüppell, E. (1835). "Herpestes sanguineus. Rüppell". Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig. Frankfurt am Main: S. Schmerber. pp. 27–28.
^Cuvier, F. G. (1826). "Vansire". In E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire; Cuvier, F. G. (eds.). Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères: avec des figures originales, coloriées, dessinées d'aprèsdes animaux vivans. Tome 5. Paris: A. Belin. p. LIV.
^ abcCuvier, G. (1829). "Les Mangoustes. Cuv. (Herpestes, Illiger)". Le règne animal distribué d'après son organisation, pour servir de base à l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction à l'anatomie comparée. Paris: Chez Déterville. pp. 157–158.
^ abGeoffroy Saint-Hilaire, É. (1817). "De l'Ichneumon. Ichneumon pharaon". In Jomard, E. F. (ed.). Description de l'Égypte, ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'éxpédition de l'armée française. Vol. Tome II. Paris: Commission des Sciences et Arts d'Egypte. pp. 137–144.
^Gmelin, J. F. (1788). "Viverra mungo". Caroli a Linné, Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Vol. I (13th aucta, reformata ed.). Lipsiae: Georg Emanuel Beer. pp. 84–85.
^Desmarest, A. G. (1804). "Genre Surikate, Suricata Nob.". In Deterville, J. F. P. (ed.). Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle appliquée aux arts: principalement à l'agriculture et à l'économie rurale et domestique. Vol. 24. Paris: Deterville. p. 15.
^Schreber, J. C. D. (1776). "Viverra suricata". Die Säugethiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur, mit Beschreibungen. Erlangen: Expedition des Schreber'schen Säugthier- und des Esper'schen Schmetterlingswerkes. p. CVII.
^Veron, G.; Colyn, M.; Dunham, A.E.; Taylor, P.; Gaubert, P. (2004). "Molecular systematics and origin of sociality in mongooses (Herpestidae, Carnivora)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 30 (3): 582–598. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00229-X. PMID15012940.
^Barycka, E. (2005). "Evolution and systematics of the feliform Carnivora". Mammalian Biology. 72 (5): 257–282. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2006.10.011.
^Cronk, N. E.; Pillay, N. (2018). "Food choice and feeding on carrion in two African mongoose species in an urban environment". Acta Ethologica. 21 (2): 127–136. doi:10.1007/s10211-018-0291-x. S2CID21688548.
