Banded Mongoose Mungos mungo

The Banded Mongoose with the lovely scientific name of Mungos mungo lives on open grassland and savannah of eastern and central Africa.

Like the similar-looking Meerkats (also mongooses) of the desert of southern Africa, the Banded Mongoose lives in tribes with a social hierarchy, but less hierarchical than Meerkats and all adult members can breed (not just the alpha pair). They are also territorial and aggressive to competing tribes.

Also like the Meerkats, they eat mainly insects such as beetles plus millipedes, scorpions and small snakes. The dens include empty termite mounds as well as underground burrows.

Young Banded Mongoose pups are assigned an adult "escort" whose job it is to feed the pup and teach it how to forage, deal with toxic prey and fend for itself.