Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Herpestes Edwardsii

Mongooses stray into our house now and then, and they always move too swiftly to be captured on camera. But the one I startled this morning was in the Olympic class, even by mongoose standards. For a blink of an eye, Guilty Mongoose and Bemused Human faced off across the kitchen floor. Then a brown streak went past me, veered towards the verandah and was gone before even the thought of getting my camera had properly formed in my head. The cheetah, at 70 mph, is supposed to be the fastest land animal, but this little fellow seemed to be doing about ninety when he rounded the bend.

9 comments:

The Reluctant Rebel said...

Cheetahs and mongooses are my two favorite animals. I would like to see them race.

Anonymous said...

"The cheetah, at 70 mph, is supposed to be the fastest land animal, but this little fellow seemed to be doing about ninety when he rounded the bend."

So would you, if confronted by a poltroon, some forty times your size.

Priyanka said...

I've caught mongooses at our ancestral house in Kerala. They look remarkably sharp. Like they're aware of everything around them. Unlike some people.
(Read: me)


OMG. vw: puchka.

Tommy said...

Cool-looking animal (and mongoose is a great word).

I was going to say the only mammals that trespass where I live are mice but I realized I once found a bat inside.

Shrabasti Banerjee said...

I have never seen a mongoose. =(

Sroyon said...

@Saha: A cheetah, a mongoose and a greyhound. Now that would be a race.

@arzkiya: Is 'poltroon' your new favourite word?

@Priyanka: Your descriptions (of both mongooses and you) are spot on.

@Tommy: Wow. Bats are as cool as mongooses, if not cooler. We get cats, mice and mongooses.

@Shrabasti: You should go to the zoo for that, if not for anything else.

Indecision Personified said...

Why don't your post headings and contents make any collective sense? Or am I just not getting it?

WV: 'noxalien' - that would probably be one way of describing you.

Indecision Personified said...

there is one mammal with a double i (ii) and one with single. The one with single is cuter. both are mongooses and look similar. How do youknow that the one that keeps coming into your house is the one with the double i???

Sroyon said...

@IP1: They will make perfect sense if you google them.

@IP2: Those are just two different spellings. Both refer to the Indian Grey Mongoose.