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| Profile |
| Scientific
name: |
Herpestes urva
(Hodgson) |
| Common
name: |
Big-tailed mongoose |
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| Features: |
The
Crab-eating mongoose has a trunk that is 36-45.7cm in length
and a tail that is roughly 16.5-28cm long. They usually weigh
1500-2500g, have a long and narrow head that ends in a protruding
snout, a round body, and four short, thin legs with five claws
each. Their claws have crescent-shaped membranes between them.
Crab-eating mongooses have long, fluffy coats full of grayish-brown
bristles with white ends, whereas their head, neck, and limbs
are all dark brown in color. Their long tails usually account
for two-thirds of their entire body length. |
| Behavior: |
Crab-eating
mongooses move around both during the day and at night, but
are most active in the early morning hours and at dusk. They
prefer living in forests near streams, inhabiting holes that
they dig up themselves or inside rocky caves. A good swimmer,
the Crab-eating mongoose feeds primarily on freshwater crabs-hence
its name-as well as frogs, fish, snails, and other mollusks
and crustaceans. |
| Habitat: |
Crab-eating mongooses live near streams in
forests and other areas, usually in mountainous regions
at low and middle altitudes.
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| Mid-Altitude
Areas>Fauna>Crab-eating
mongoose |
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