Courageous snake-fighters:
Mongooses are famous for fighting snakes: In literature, struggles between mongooses and snakes
are often reported and usually those fights end with the mongoose as the winner!
Thus, the small mungos are hold in very high regards in many countries as they keep the number of vermin low!
With nimble feet and a quick and clever snap, they defeat (almost) every snake. But if a slash fails,
and the fangs of the snake strike back, the mongoose is suffering from severe pain.
Contrary to all rumours, mongooses are not immune to snake venom! But their bushy fur and in particular incredible
agility and speed prevent the worst.
Scientifically it is unclear if the nerve receptors of diverse mongoose-species are to some degree alike to those of poisonous snakes.
Allegedly, some neurotoxic substances can not be absorbed by the mongoose nerves, which gives a certain
immunity to snake venom. But medical evidence is not yet to be proofed...
Mongooses never fight snakes out of fun - every fight is a risk! Although mongooses eat snakes,
there are far easier preys available. Opposed to humans, no animal will put itself into high risk if avoidable!
Only if a snake is a real danger to the mongooses or it's own pack, a fierce fight is started.
Provoked snake fights by humans:
There are some videos circulating on the internet showing fights between a mongoose and a snake. Most of those fights
are provoked by some guys - at least when two candidates are put together into a closed box of acrylic glass without
any possibility to escape, this simply is
cruelty to animals!
If you encounter such video-clips, please protest fiercely at the appropriate administrator of this website. Find out the puplisher or
webhoster and denounce the video as inappropriate and send an 'abuse-mail'. Please do not support those sites, and please do not show away!
Help all animals who are in desperate need!
In the cities of Asia 'street artists' sometimes show provoked fights between snakes and mongooses
to wear out some rupees of the sleeves of passers-by. If you give any money to them or stop for watching the fight,
you support this 'cruelty to animals' - better keep walking and ignore the scene!
The purchase and release of the animal would possibly lead to the fact that mongooses are hunted
specifically for being offered to tourists for being released. Life is complicated and cruel...
Mongooses as pest-control:
The ability to fight and eat snakes induced owners of sugar plantations to introduce mongooses on various islands in the
Caribbean and the Pacific and northern parts of South-America for protecting workers from venomous snakes. The mongoose
should 'purge' the islands of snakes.
Unfortunately the plantation owners did not mind two facts.
First: The mongooses are diurnal and most of the pest of snakes
are nocturnal. The chances the two animals running across each other is very small, so the benefit of the mongooses' work
was minimal.
Second: The impact of the mongooses on the native wildlife was enormous, but in a bad way: No predators around, native wildlife was
nearly 'ambushed' by the mongooses which led to the extinction of various animals (in majority birds) very soon.
As it turned out, there were no benefits introducing the mongooses. Instead, they became a real pest themselves
regarding native wildlife.
There is no blame to the mongooses, they did just behave like in their native habitat - and they are hold in very high
regards there! Once again it's human who should not mix faunaes...
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