Peace Crane by Hilary Taylor

Peace Crane by Hilary Taylor
Picture by Justin Wyatt
To read Hilary's story buy this special book...

This magical story has a touch of the supernatural. When an injured crane is found and nursed, something happens, something magical and inspiring...

Gentle Footprints launched- AS SEEN ON TV

Gentle Footprints was officially launched Fri June 4th at the Hay Festival with guest speaker Virginia McKenna and some of the authors


Buy from Bridge House Publishing by clicking on the link BUY:

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Virginia McKenna at Hay Launch

Virginia McKenna at Hay Launch

Animal Anthology To Raise Funds for Born Free

Bridge House Publishing announce new book coming Spring 2010. For more about Bridge House please see their website.
This book is the annual charity book for Born Free...if you want to get involved with promoting and selling this book- email me!

www.bridgehousepublishing.co.uk


Visit the Born Free Website to find out more about their valuable work...

Visit the Born Free Website to find out more about their valuable work...
KEEP WILDLIFE IN THE WILD

Saturday 20 November 2010

The Mongoose

•Mongooses are weasel like animals, which have long bodies and faces, combined with small rounded ears. They have short legs and long tapering tails. Most of the time they have a gray or brown streak or a pattern in gray or brown. These animals have claws that cannot be drawn back they are non-retractile.


•Some species of the mongoose class are nocturnal while others come out in the light of day. One of the species known as yellow mongoose belong to the latter group and live a community life unlike the Egyptian mongoose, which lives a solitary life.




•Mongooses live in crevices of rocks and burrows. The interesting thing is that seldom do they dig these holes themselves, most of the time they just move into burrows that have been left by other animals.
•Scent plays a very important role in case of demarcating the territories of various species and they also use it to mark the reproductive status. They have a large anal scent gland for the same purpose.
•Apart from the scent they also make a high-pitched noise, which is termed as "giggling" as a sign of mating. Giggling is a form courtship when the animal is choosing a partner.

•The Mongoose is a very fast animal and in a conflict with a snake, it can dodge the snake and save itself from the strike of the snake easily. It uses several tricks and then when the snake is tired it attacks the snake and catches it by the back of its neck. It breaks the snake’s spine and eats the snake! Quite a feat for such a small animal. Humans are such scaredy cats really!




•They have a great tolerance towards the venom of the snake,but there have been times when the mongoose has eaten the head and the fangs, the latter pierce through the walls of the blood vessels in the body of the mongoose. The venom leaks into the bloodstream leading to the death of the animal.




•Some species of mongooses use various defense mechanisms to save themselves from the bigger carnivores. Like Meerkats of them acts as the guard who keeps a watch on the surroundings and makes a loud noise that works like an alarm call for the others. Once the other mongooses hear this alarm call they rush to the nearest hole as soon as they can.
There is very little difference between mongooses and meerkats but scientifically whilst a meerkat is a mongoose a mongoose is not a meerkat. Any differences are probably reflected in small cranial structures such as the auditory bulla (a small bone in the ear) and possibly dental characteristics.

The mongoose in literature was made famous by Rudyard Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi. This story was about a mongoose who saved an Indian family from a dangerous Cobra.





Hope you have enjoyed this brief look at this fascinating and brave little animal!

7 comments:

  1. Facinating stuff- thank you for sharing!
    Debz :)

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  2. Love the idea of giggling as courtship.

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  3. Love the picture of the mongoose licking his lips....fierce!

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  4. very interesting and comprehensive information...about this elusive animal...

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  5. very interesting and informative... do people pet them like cats or dogs?

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  6. I was reading this book for a project and your photos really helped!!!

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