CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR HERPESTES SPP., THE INDIAN MONGOOSES 24.1 The Living Animal 24.1.1 Zoology Mongooses are small carnivorous animals with a slender body, short limbs, an elongated head with a pointed muzzle and a muscular, taper- ing tail (fi g. 352). This tail is as long as body and head length together (45–50 cm) in the common or grey mongoose (Herpestes edwardsi) or about half that length in the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus).1 The ears of mongooses are round and really small, whereas the claws are long with splayed digits that are adapted to dig. Mongooses run after their prey and sometimes dig out their victim. They prey upon snakes, often on highly venomous species like cobras (fi g. 353), made possible by their effi cient defence system consisting of an extreme agility in evading a bite and bristling of the hairs on the body to look much larger so that the snake misses its goal. They also smash snails and other hard objects by standing upright and hurling the object to the ground with force. Mongooses shelter in existing cavities or dig a hole by themselves. Typical of the coat pattern of mongooses is the silver or golden sparkling all over their body as if tiny crystals are attached to it. In the common or grey mongoose, the sparks are silvery and are the result of a pepper-and-salt tinge due to alternate light and dark rings on its hairs (fi g. 354). In the small Indian mongoose, the coat is olive-brown or darker brown, minutely speckled with gold, which explains its Latin name.2 1 There are four other mongoose species on the Indian subcontinent, which keep to hill forests, each restricted to a certain region. These species are the brown mongoose (Herpestes fuscus), the ruddy mongoose (H. smithi), the striped-necked mongoose (H. vit- ticollis) and the crab-eating mongoose (H. urva). 2 The coat pattern of the striped-necked mongoose and the crab-eating mongoose are much like that of the common mongoose, shining with silvery spots. The brown indian mongooses 287 The common mongoose and the small Indian mongoose are found everywhere, from cultivated lands, jungle, mountain forests to the arid desert and the plains and even up to 2.135 m in the Himalayas. They enter houses and live there, and hunt in fi elds and cultivation. Though they kill domestic poultry, they kill much more rats and mice for compensation. The distribution of the common mongoose extends into Iran and Iraq in the west and Sri Lanka in the South; the small Indian mongoose does not extend its range into peninsular India. 24.1.2 Role of Mongooses in Society A mongoose is more effectively in clearing a house from rats, mice, snakes, scorpions and various insects than a cat, and for this reason mongooses are often kept as pets. Remains of the small Indian mon- goose were recovered from the mature Harappan site of Lothal at the Gulf of Cambay, Gujarat (c. 2,300–1,750 B.C.E.),3 a strong indication that also in this early period the small mongoose did not avoid cultiva- tion and may even have been kept as pest controller. It is believed that a mongoose which has been bitten by a snake eats a certain root or herb, known in India as mangus vail, which acts as an antidote. It is also believed that the thorny patch on the mongoose’s tongue contains an antidote; this thorny patch is in reality used for rasping fl esh from bones. Mongooses are of their own less sensitive to snake venom than most other animals; they do not possess any antidote, nor do they eat protective plants. This partial immunity is not unique to mongooses, but is also present in cats to a certain degree and in pigs and hedgehogs. The only Indian deity to which the mongoose is assigned is Kubera. He is the Hindu god of wealth and riches, but also the regent of the north among the eight guardian deities (dikpalas) and king of the yakshas. His home are the caves in the Himalayas. Jambhala is his Buddhist counterpart. The mongoose of Kubera, and likewise that of Jambhala, is supposed to vomit jewels, befi tting the attribute of a god of wealth. The basis for this belief cannot easily be explained. However, the mongoose is completely bedecked with fl ickering jewels in the case of the common coat of the brown mongoose is speckled with yellow or tawny ‘jewels’ as a bleached version of the small Indian mongoose 3 Nath, op. cit. (1968), 1–63; Chitalwala and Thomas, op. cit. (1977–8), 14..