Profile
Scientific name:	Herpestes urva (Hodgson)
Common name:	Big-tailed mongoose

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.