This is the Viverridae family, comprising small or medium-sized catlike carnivores, including the civets in a broad sense. One of the most popular animal belonging to it is the mongoose , well-known to almost everyone due to the famous story by Redyard Kipling. One of the commonest species living in India is grizzled dingy brown and black, and has a sharp snout and long tail. Due to its quick sight and great agility rather than immunity to poison, the Indian common mongoose fearlessly attacks and kills the most poisonous snakes - cobras. Thus it is often domesticated.
Mongooses feed on various small animals - from insects to rodents and reptiles.
The latter are somewhat twice larger and prefer nomad life, constantly migrating in shoads within their territory. Active in the mornings and evenings, they spend days and nights in burrows. Specimens living in our Zoo breed well. The suricate is usually thought to be a most attractive among the viverrids. Inhabiting Cape Colony of South Africa, it is allied to mongooses, but has only four toes.