There are 6 species of mongooses that occur on Mountainlands. (Just for fun: the plural of mongoose is mongooses and not ‘mongeese’). These short-legged animals with their furry tails, pointed snouts and small ears are small carnivores that form a family mob or live solitary. They communicate with each other through vocalization, scent and body language.
Most are opportunistic and happy to eat a variety of prey such as insects, birds, snakes, eggs, smaller reptiles and sometimes even carrion. Some, like the marsh mongoose, have specific preferences that include freshwater crabs and mussels. Some are active during the day and others during the night, and others both day and night.
Besides seeing their tracks on the reserve and spotting them when one is on foot, they have been photographed by the leopard monitoring trail cameras. These are placed high off the ground to photograph the markings on the back of leopards as well as larger animals such as kudus. This makes it kind of complicated to identify the smaller mammals, but most of the time the body shape and markings are sufficient to be able to name the mongoose species.
The smallest mongoose that occurs on Mountainlands is the Dwarf mongoose and the largest the White-tailed mongoose. The rarest is the Meller’s mongoose.
Nelson Mandela once said: “I learnt that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” And that is quite applicable to these little animals who have a fearsome reputation for standing their ground, to tackle and kill poisonous snakes many times larger than themselves.
But they have a secret weapon up their sleeve as scientists at the Immunology Department at the Weismann Institute in Israel discovered in the 1990’s. It is not just by moving quickly around the snake, tiring it while it strikes many times at the mongoose, that makes the mongoose evade the venomous bites and win a fight. They are also resistant to snake venom.
The active ingredient in snake venom, alpha-neurotoxin, works by binding to acetylcholine receptor molecules on the surface of muscle cells of the victims. These receptors receive messages from nerves which tell the muscles to contract or relax. But alpha-neurotoxin blocks the nerve-muscle communications, incapacitating and ultimately killing the victim.
The scientists found that the acetylcholine receptors in mongooses and snakes are shaped so that the venom cannot attach to them, thereby inhibiting the toxic effect. And the receptors can still transfer messages from nerves to muscles.
The mongooses that occur on the Mountainlands are:
Banded mongoose, Gebande muishond (Mungos mungo)
Banded mongoose Photo taken by Warwick Tarboton.
Dwarf mongoose, Dwerg muishond(Helogale parvula)
Dwarf Mongoose. Photo taken by Warwick Tarboton.
Meller’s mongoose, Meller se muishond (Rhynchogale melleri)
Trail camera photo of Meller’s Mongoose. Photo taken by Simon Attwood.
Slender mongoose, Swartkwasmuishond (Galerella sanguinea)
Slender mongoose showing the black tip on the tail. Photo taken by Warwick Tarboton.
Southern Marsh Mongoose / Water mongoose, Kommetjiegatmuishond (Atilax paludinosus)
Water mongoose. Photo taken by Duncan McKenzie.
White-tailed mongoose, Witstertmuishond (Ichneumia albicauda)
White tailed mongoose. Photo taken by Warwick Tarboton.
