Threatened species of Herpestes

Mongooses are small carnivores. Their body lengths vary from around 230 mm to over 750 mm; and their weights range from less than 1 kg to around 5 or 6 kg. Mainly African, with one genus also widespread in Asia and southern Europe. Overall, 34 species are placed in about 20 genera.

Herpestids are found in a wide variety of habitats, ranging from desert to tropical forest, feeding on rats, mice, snakes, lizards, eggs, and insects. Some species are semiaquatic, readily entering the water to feed on fish, crabs and other aquatic organisms.

Mongooses have been introduced to a number of places, usually to help control snakes and rodent pests. Unfortunately, this has rarely, if ever worked, and the introduced mongooses have generally been a worse problem than the creatures they were introduced to control.