Indian Gray Mongoose

Indian Gray Mongoose

The Indian grey mongoose or common grey mongoose (Herpestes edwardsii) is a species of mongoose mainly found in southern Asia mainly India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and some other parts of Asia.In Pakistan it is called نیولہ in Urdu/Punjabi. The grey mongoose is commonly found in open forests, scrublands and cultivated fields, often close to human habitation. It lives in burrows, hedgerows and thickets, among groves of trees, taking shelter under rocks or bushes and even in drains. It is very bold and inquisitive but wary, seldom venturing far from cover. It climbs very well. Usually found singly or in pairs. It preys on rodents, snakes, birds’ eggs and hatchlings, lizards and variety of invertebrates. Along the Chambal River it occasionally feeds on gharial eggs. It breeds throughout the year. Its name in English came from its Telugu name 'Mungisa' (ముంగిస).

Read more about Indian Gray Mongoose:  Description, Feeding

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