Mongoose

A mongoose (plural mongooses, alternatively mongeese) is a member of the family Herpestidae, a family of small cat-like carnivores. Mongooses are widely distributed in Asia, Africa the Caribbean, and southern Europe.

Mongoose
Dwarf Mongoose
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Infraclass:
Eutheria
Superorder:
Laurasiatheria
Order:
Carnivora
Suborder:
Feliformia
Infraorder:
Viverroidea
Family:
Herpestidae

Bonaparte, 1845
Subfamiles

Herpestinae

A well-known mongoose written in fiction is Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, who has a short story of the same title in The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling. In this story set in India, the young mongoose saves his family from a krait and from two cobras, named Nag and Nagaina. This story was later made into several movies, and also a song by Donovan.

There is a Mongoose fictional character in Bram Stoker's novel, The Lair of the White Worm. The main character, Adam Salton, buys one to hunt snakes.

Game Freak's Pokémon media franchise has a Pokémon named Zangoose, named after the mongoose.

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