Herpestes (mongooses) are long-bodied, long-tailed, short-limbed animals that eat snakes and also hunt frogs, fish, birds, rats, crabs, lizards, insects and other small mammals. Meerkats are natural enemies of snakes, and not only do they have the ability to fight snakes, but they also have resistance to venom themselves.

The crab-eating meerkat has a body length of 40~80 cm and a tail length of 27~33 cm, a slender snout, a coarse tail base, a light gray-brown mixed body, and brown-yellow limbs.

Meerkats have four toes on each foot, are about 25 to 30 centimeters when standing up, and weigh about 700 grams on average. The tail is long and tapered and about 20 cm.

The weight of the distinguishing feature is about 2~3 kg. There is a white longitudinal stripe from the corner of the mouth through the cheeks, the side of the neck to the back to the shoulders. The hairs are thick and long, the tips are white, and the lower ends are black and brownish-yellow.

Appearance: The adult crab-eating mongoose is generally about 2 kilograms, and the maximum can reach 3 kilograms. The snout is long and the ears are short. The neck is short and thick, the body is slightly stout, slightly oblate, and the tail is thick at the base and gradually pointed towards the end of the tail. The limbs are short and short, each with five toes, the first toe and the claw are short and small, and the third and fourth toes and claws are very long and sharp. There is a pair of anal glands on either side of the anus, and there are glandular holes that give off odors.

Coat color: The body hair and tail hair are very thick and fluffy, slightly like brown lily. The snout and around the eyes are short hairs brown, and the cheeks, forehead, top of the head and ears are covered with short black hairs. There is a white longitudinal stripe from the corner of the mouth through the cheeks, the side of the neck to the back to the shoulders, the tip of the hair is grayish-white, the middle part is black-brown, and the base is brownish-yellow. The dorsal hairs of the body are alternating black to brown, and some parts are black to grayish-white or light grayish-brown. Body villi tan. The coat of the second half of the tail is brownish-yellow, and the coat color of the tail end of the old meerkat is obviously white. The limbs are short-haired tan with brownish-yellow tips.

Skull: The occipital part of the skull is quite high, and the back of the head is broad. The snout is short and blunt, the infraorbital foramen is located on the third upper molar, and the supraorbital and zygomatic orbital processes are well developed, but only a few adult and elderly specimens have the two bones converging to form a bony eye ring. The temporal crest of the cranial parietal is not well developed, and only the temporal crest of the elderly specimens is more pronounced. The confluence of the sagittal crest and the herringbone crest above the occipital part of the skull is not conspicuously upward. The anterior half of the auditory bubble is low and the posterior half is markedly inflated.

Teeth: The odontoid process is high and sharp, and the third incisor is larger than the first and second incisors. The inner tip of the anterior end of the upper fissure tooth is very well developed, and the posterior part of the tooth forms an oblique tooth ridge, and the inner side of the first upper molar tooth has a protocusp that is more developed than the lateral tooth process. The second upper molars are more degenerate. The overall tooth shape is similar to that of the red-cheeked meerkat.

There are 14 species of mongoose in the world, which are distributed in the tropical and temperate regions of the Old World, with more species in Asia and Africa. Africa is home to more than half of the mongoose species, with nine species found on the island of Madagascar alone. There is a species called meerkats (mongooses), which are one of the most social mammals in Africa, and they are vigilant by nature, and there are often some "sentinels" who stand up to be vigilant.

There are 2 species of meerkats in China, namely the crab-eating meerkat and the Javan meerkat of which the crab-eating mongoose is relatively common.

Main distribution provinces: Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Taiwan, Hong Kong.

The color of the meerkat's fur changes with the climate: it changes to gray, brown or brown, and sometimes it is covered with silvery-white and dark stripes.

It likes to live in mountains, forests, ravines and streams, and uses tree holes and rock crevices as nests. Come out of the cave in the morning or at dusk to feed. Male and female are often together, and they have the habit of helping each other. When the mother animal travels with her cubs, she often makes a cooing sound to guide her. The sense of smell is extremely sensitive, and when earthworms and insect larvae are found in the ground, they immediately dig with their front paws and the end of the snout nose. In the spring, they often forage in the ploughed fields, and in the winter, they hunt in the grass piles for snakes, frogs, crabs, fish, small birds and many other insects, and they can also climb trees to feed on bird eggs. The Javan mongoose is slightly smaller and is a well-known snake eater. The movement is lightning fast, and it can attack snakes non-stop.

Of course, due to the limitation of the size and physical strength of the meerkat species, it is more than enough to deal with poisonous snakes such as pit vipers and cobras, and when it comes to more ferocious opponents such as king cobras or pythons, it is difficult to deal with them, and the best way is to escape.

Feeding habits: dissect the meerkat stomach, see snakes, frogs, bird feathers and various insect larvae, molluscs, etc. Crab shells, snakes and fish scales, bird feathers and insect shells can also be seen from the black mongoose feces of e-cigarette oil, especially snake scales. It can be seen that the meerkat has a complex diet, but it feeds on a variety of small animals. In addition to eating the above-mentioned animals, it also preys on shrimp, loaches, earthworms, snails, mole crickets, beetle larvae, etc. It is understood that the crab-eating mongoose raised in Guangzhou Zoo will show a lack of energy if it is not fed to live snakes for a long time, and it will return to normal after feeding to snakes. Exceptionally active. From this point of view, snakes are an important food for meerkats.

Meerkats are basically insectivores, which means that their diet consists mainly of various insects. Of course, meerkats also don't turn away small mammals, snakes, snake eggs, birds, young birds, maggots, and even venomous scorpions – their near-perfect scorpion-catching skills are enough to avoid the scorpion's venom.

For most of the day, meerkats use their noses to search for food. As soon as you find it, eat it immediately. Their diet consists of about 82% insects, 7% spiders, 3% centipedes, 3% millipedes, 2% reptiles, and 2% birds [source: University of Michigan, USA]. In some parts of the Kalahari Desert, water is scarce, but meerkats can find water from the tubers or roots of plants.

Meerkats are very territorial, and the size of their territory is mainly determined by factors such as the size of the group, the amount of food, and the amount of water available. However, these territories are usually temporary, and they will shift their positions as soon as they begin to run out of food resources or are driven away by more powerful groups. The ruler of the community, the male leader, is responsible for demarcating the territory and protecting the group from competitors or predators.

Meerkats dig holes in their territory to build their homes. They work as a team to build or improve their habitat. These crypts are well-built dwelling chambers. Although meerkats have the ability to dig burrows on their own (their sharp claws are great for digging), they tend to share a room with African squirrels or yellow mongooses, and sometimes with some kind of beetle. Meerkats do not eat this beetle, while they are happy to eat the garbage left behind by meerkats.

These caves usually have several openings, scattered in different locations on the ground. A labyrinthine of tunnels connects the crypt to the other caverns. Crypts are usually used as a protector for meerkats to thrive. In addition to a few main openings, there will be several entrances and passages scattered throughout the territory for risk. These small holes are especially important when meerkats are foraging far from the main holes.

In addition to this cave system, meerkats also set up sentry posts to keep their colony safe. Whenever the herd goes out in search of food or other daily activities, a meerkat is always left to stand guard in rotation to guard against predators. In the event of a predator or other dangerous situation, the meerkat acting as a sentinel will make a special call to alert all its companions, just as a warning horn is called. This is a very effective early warning system, and one study reported that meerkat sentries are able to detect predators up to 150 meters away, with a success rate of about 77%.

Natural enemies:

When it comes to venomous snakes, people are scared, especially cobras, which are even more terrifying.

The neck of the cobra has a pair of spectacle markings with white edges and black hearts, which is what distinguishes it from other venomous snakes.

Cobras have hooks in front of their fangs and can secrete neurological venom, which is very poisonous. If it is provoked, its front half of its body will stand up, its neck will swell, and it will make a whirring sound, which is really vicious. But when it sees a meerkat, it trembles and shrunkles into a ball, like a mouse seeing a cat.

The snake meerkat is also called Möngke. It has a small head, a pointed mouth, and a long tail, and its whole body is about 75 centimeters long, and its tail takes up half of its body, which is much smaller than that of a cobra.

How dare a meerkat break ground on the head of a cobra that is so small? It turns out that the meerkat is not poisonous (the chemical explanation is that its blood has a strong buffering capacity and can resist the influence of venom), and no matter how poisonous the cobra is, it will not have any effect on it.

Someone has done an experiment: put the meerkat and the cobra together, and at first the hair on the meerkat stands up, and the cobra stares at the meerkat and does not dare to move. When the meerkat saw that the snake was lying still, he went forward and teased it. The cobra was angry, its front body was erected, its neck was swollen, it made a "whirring" sound, and it stretched its head to the meerkat again and again, trying to bite the meerkat down. The meerkat is nimble and hides quickly, and the cobra always can't bite it. When the cobra was exhausted, the meerkat reached behind it, unexpectedly bit its neck, bit it to death, and ate its flesh.

Meerkats live in the world, as if they are specifically fighting against poisonous snakes, sometimes the meerkat is full, and the stomach can't put it down, but when it encounters a poisonous snake, it still has to bite it to death, like a cat seeing a mouse without mercy.

Meerkats not only eat venomous snakes, but are also adept at catching rodents. With its small and flexible body, it burrows into the mouse hole and hunts for food one by one, which is really painful!

Since the 19th century, Hawaii's sugar cane fields have been plagued by rodents. People regard the meerkat as a rodent extermination hero, and ask it to go there to show its expertise. Soon after the meerkats went, they ate up almost all the rats in the place. As a result, people love it. There is also the habit of raising snake meerkats in Yunnan.

It is a veritable beast that we must not harm.