Banded mongoose pictures and facts

A Banded Mongoose (Mungos mungo) lives in parts of Africa, and its main distribution is at the Sahara's south parts. Outside this main distribution, it could be located from Gambia to Ethiopia. Banded mongooses could survive on many habitats, such as rocky ground, woods and grasslands. One habitat they could not survive on however, are the deserts.

It is basically considered as small, in the breeds of mongoose. A Banded Mongoose could be recognized apart from its relatives by the set of black marks along the back, midback and tail's area. Their cheek teeth have rounded cusps, and a Banded Mongoose's muzzle is quite pointed. Just like us, it has 5 digits on the foot (front) but at the hind foot, it has four (unlike us). These hind feet have claws.

The litter size varies, anything from 2 to 6, and these young come into the world via grassy chambers, which are holes on the soil, or even termite homes. A young would be fed by a lactating female, not necessarily the m
other. If the pack leaves for preying adventures, on the average, a female for 8 newborns would be left behind. The newborns would start leaving the nesting ground at around a month old.

A Banded Mongoose is diurnal, and definitely not a solitary creature. They exist in packs that number from ten to twenty. However, when hunting, there are times when an individual would be a loner. As per past observations, it has been shown that they help each other when the prey is a dangerous one, like a sand snake. What about aggression within the males within the same pack? Very little actually, any quarrel over food is conceded to the dominant male. If the pack is under threat, they would all scatter in any and all directions, if escape is going to be an easy one for them. Now it gets interesting, if escape is NOT easy for them, they would get close to each other, encircling the young ones.

The reproduction within a group is usually synchronized, and as a result, many females would give birth WITHIN the same week, just few days apart.

* Author: TKnoxB]
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