Spotlight on: Cute Baby Mongooses
Mongooses are the species which make up the family Herpestidae – a group of animals which some people might mistake for weasel-family mustelids. Not only are mongooses very cute babies, but they are mighty adults! Fearless animals who hunt and eat snakes, mongoose babies train from a young age to be tough and fearless. They rely on their quickness to avoid being bitten by snakes but if that fails they have pretty thick fur and their bodies have adapted to resist the toxic venom that snakes can dish out. They don’t only munch on reptiles, however, there are many other animals crawling around in the sun that they can prey on. Mongoose babies start on a diet of insects, worms, crabs, eggs and even carrion. Their larger prey includes lizards and small rodents.
One of the cutest, or maybe most unsettling things about the mongoose is the sound they make during mating and when threatened – this sound is commonly called “giggling” because it sounds just like the little mongoose is laughing! Found mostly in Africa but also all over Southern Asia, these cute critters are fierce and not to be trifled with, even though some people keep them as pets for their skill in pest control.
