Habits: Although the Indian gray mongoose spends most of its time on the ground, it can climb walls and trees as well as a monkey. The mongoose can also backward in a straight line for short distances. By rolling into a ball and jumping up on its hind legs, it can leap high into the air. The mongoose is active during the day, when it hunts. At night it sleeps on the ground in a termite nest or in a den that it digs itself. It is found in open country and in the lightly wooded areas of its range.

Food and Hunting: The mongoose is a skillful hunter that actively searches for prey by using its strong senses of smell and sight. It eats anything it can catch. The Indian gray mongoose commonly eats small mammals such as rats, as well as eggs and a variety of insects, including the scorpion. The mongoose sniffs the ground and turns over rocks and stones in its search for prey. If the animal tries to flee, the mongoose chases it. It kills its prey while they are both running by delivering a bite to the neck or head. Although the mongoose eats snakes, including the poisonous cobra the main part of its diet consists of small animals that live on or under the ground. The mongoose is a fast and agile hunter. It is always watchful for prey.

Breeding: Although the gray mongoose is widespread, little is known of its breeding habits in the wild. Males and females are solitary except during the mating season. After mating, each pair separates, and the male often mates with other females. Two months after mating, two to four young are born in a well hidden nest on the ground. If predators or intruders threaten, the mother mongoose carries her young in her mouth to safety.
The newborn mongooses are lightly covered with hair, but they are blind for the first few days. They are suckled for several weeks. The young develop quickly and soon accompany their mother on hunting trips, where she teaches them how to hunt for themselves. Once they become skillful hunters, they leave to establish their own territories.

Key Facts:
Sizes:
Length of body: 17 in.
Tail length: 15 in.
Weight: 3 lb.

Breeding:
Sexual maturity: 2 years
Mating: Takes place at any time of the year
Gestation: 60 days
No. of young: 2-4

Lifestyle:
Habit: Solitary diurnal (daytime) hunter
Diet: Mostly small mammals like birds and lizards; also snakes and their eggs and some insects
Lifespan: Up to 10 years

Related Species: The family of viverridae includes genets, civets, and linsangs. The dwarf mongoose of Ethiopia is only 17 in. long from head to tip of tail. The African civet is the largest, with a body 33 in. long
Distribution: Found in India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, the Middle East, and Nepal. Other species are found in the Far East, Africa, southern Spain, and Portugal.
Conservation: Of the 31 species of mongoose, the spotted linsang is the only species in danger of extinction. Four of the Madagascan species are now threatened by destruction of their habitat.

Indian Gray Mongoose fighting a Cobra:
Fur: The mongoose’s dense fur protects it from the cobra’s venomous fangs.
Stamina: The mongoose overcomes the cobra with its great endurance.
Bite: The mongoose kills the snake by biting the back of its head. It then eats the cobra, starting at the head.

Did You Know: 
Mongooses can see colors, unlike most mammals, which have only partial color vision.
A mongoose cracks eggs open by standing with its back to a wall and throwing the eggs under its body and between its back legs so that the eggs break against the wall.
Indian gray mongooses are often kept as pets to keep houses free from rats and other pests.
The mongoose closes its outer ear when hunting in soil to keep out dirt and water.

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