Animal · Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania
Banded mongoose
Mungos mungo — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The banded mongoose is a small, stripy hunter of the African savanna that lives in large family groups and spends the day digging for beetles. Dark bands run across its back, and that is where its name comes from.
Picture credit: Johannes Maximilian (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Paul Korecky (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the banded mongoose live?
Home: Savannas, open woodlands and grassy plains of Africa.
In the wild it lives in these countries: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique.
Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.
The short profile
Fully grown: 30-45 cm long, plus a tail of 15-30 cm. It weighs about 1.8 kilograms. On the menu: insects.
The story behind it
A group of banded mongooses usually has about twenty members, sometimes many more. They sleep together underground, often in an old termite mound, and move to a new den every two or three days. In the morning the whole group spreads out across the grass, digging with strong claws for beetles, millipedes and grubs. When a mongoose finds something hard, like an egg or a snail, it throws the shell backwards against a stone until it cracks open. The mothers of a group give birth at almost the same time, so all the pups are the same age and are raised together. If a snake or an eagle turns up, the adults bunch together, chatter loudly and push forward as one until the danger leaves.
Find it on the globe
Banded mongoose is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
What do banded mongooses eat?
Mostly insects. Beetles and millipedes make up the biggest part of the meal, and ants, crickets, snails, eggs and small lizards are added whenever they turn up.
Do banded mongooses really fight snakes?
Sometimes, but never alone. A whole group will crowd together and move towards a snake, making a lot of noise until it gives up and leaves. Mostly they simply drive the snake away rather than kill it.
Where do banded mongooses sleep?
Underground, all together. They use burrows and old termite mounds as dens and change to another one every few days, so no den gets dirty or dangerous.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
Last checked: