Category Zoology

We all know the story of the mongoose that killed the snake to save its master’s baby. The mongoose is a small terrestrial mammal that feeds on small animals such as rodents, birds, reptiles, frogs, insects, and worms. The mongoose is found in southern Europe, Asia and Africa.

Remember Rikki-tikki-tavi from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book? Rikki is an Indian grey mongoose. It is commonly found in the open forests and near human settlements. The Egyptian mongoose is known for digging out bugs from the ground. Its teeth are so strong that it can tear the flesh of any animal. The stripe necked mongoose is commonly found in the Western Ghats. The dwarf mongoose is the smallest of all the mongooses.

Mongooses are long faced with small rounded ears. They have small legs, but long tails. They usually live in groups. They are known for catching snakes due to their agility, thick coats, and specialized acetylcholine receptors that render them resistant or immune to snake venom.

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The green anaconda is arguably the largest and undoubtedly the heaviest snake in the world; some anacondas grow over a size of 10 meters and have a heavy build.

Anacondas are of two types – the green and the yellow anaconda. The green anaconda is known by many names like the giant anaconda, sucuri, or water kamudi.

Anacondas live in swamps, marshes, and slow-moving streams, mainly in the tropical rain forests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. Female anacondas are usually larger than their male counterparts. Reticulated pythons-anaconda’s cousins- grow up to the same size of an anaconda. But an anaconda has more girth which makes it heavier.

Anacondas usually hunt in darkness. Rather than chasing the prey, they ambush it. They can easily camouflage near the murky waters, where they wait for their prey to come. They prey on wild pigs, deer, birds, turtles, capybara, caimans, and even jaguars.

Their jaws are attached to stretchy ligaments that help them swallow the prey as a whole regardless of its size.

The meerkat is a member of the mongoose family, usually found in southwestern Africa. Meerkats can be recognized from the position in which they stand; they often stand on their rear legs. Mother Meerkats are skilled to feed their babies while standing like this.

Meerkats usually live in packs ranging from three to twenty-five in number. They live in burrows with multiple entrances. They usually hunt in packs.

Some meerkats serve as lookouts watching for birds that could be snatched from the ground. A few of them will be busy guarding the pack while the rest look for prey. They prey on beetles, caterpillars, termites, spiders, scorpions, lizards, birds, small snakes, and rodent.

The prey is primarily located by smell.

Often, a meerkat gives out a sharp, shrill call which is the signal for all to take cover. Purring sounds are also used for communication while hunting. Meerkats can be tamed easily; therefore, they are often kept as pets to kill rodents.

Also known as the ermine, the stoat is a mustelid. Mustelids are carnivorous mammals like otters, weasels, ferrets and wolverines. Stoats are highly adaptable creatures. They are bigger than weasels and are as potent as big cats.

Highly skilled killers, stoats can subdue and devour prey, like rabbits and hares that are much bigger than themselves. They usually kill by a single bite on the neck. Stoats are quite well-known for ‘hypnotizing’ rabbits. They hunt both by day and night, don’t like to be out in the open and so tend to hunt along ditches, hedgerows and walls or through meadows and marshes.

Apart from rabbits, stoats also hunt many rodents, including voles, as well as birds. Stoats can climb trees and that is how they gain access to birds’ nests.

Stoats were native to Eurasia and America. They were brought to New Zealand in the 19th century in order to control the rabbit population. This however, had a devastating effect on the bird population in New Zealand.

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Though it looks like a small bear, the wolverine is actually the largest animal in the weasel family. The wolverine is a ferocious animal noted for its strength, cunning, fearlessness, and voracity.

Wolverines are solitary animals. They hunt by night and need a lot of room to roam around. Individual wolverines may travel 24 kilometres in a day in search of food. They often live in dens amongst roots and rocks. They are also known to dig dens in snowdrifts as well.

Small animals like rabbits and rodents are an easy catch for wolverines. They often prey on animals many times larger than their size. They occasionally feed on carrion of the corpses of larger mammals, such as elk, deer, and caribou. Their jaws are extremely powerful and can crunch through frozen meat and bone easily.

Wolverines are found in isolated areas of Canada, North West USA, Northern Europe, and Northern and Eastern Asia. Wolverine populations are steadily declining since the 19th century due to a number of reasons like trapping, range reduction and habitat fragmentation.

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The Komodo dragon grows up to a size of three meters and is the largest lizard in the world. As a result of their size, these lizards dominate the ecosystems in which they live.

The hunting style of the Komodo dragon is different from all the others in the reptile world. They have a venomous bite and usually hunt in groups. They hunt big mammals like cattle, pigs and deer. They also prey on birds and invertebrates. However, a major portion of their diet consists of carrion. They seldom need to capture live prey, since their venomous bite delivers toxins that render them lifeless.

The way Komodo dragons eat is worth mentioning. They can eat up to 80 per cent of their body weight in one sitting; their flexible jaws aid them to hog. Their large size and predatory habits have invited the world’s attention to this creature.

Tourists from around the world flock to Indonesia to see this huge lizard, where it is endemic. The Komodo dragon is protected by law and the Komodo National Park was founded in 1980 to aid the protection efforts.

Picture Credit : Google