Mongoose Pictures

The banded mongoose shots were all taken while on safari in Botswana's Mashatu Game Reserve, while the photos of the dwarf mongooses were taken in South Africa's Kruger National Park.

Banded mongooses are highly gregarious, living in large packs of 35 or more. During the day they head off in a group, foraging for insects like beetles and crickets.

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Spread Out But while scratching and sniffing around, they do spread out, so it's difficult getting pictures of more than one at a time. They won't allow you too close and this, together with their size (about 55cm or 25", including tail), usually requires a telephoto lens to fill the camera frame. A telephoto zoom lens in the 70-210mm or 70-300mm range will normally suffice. This will work even better if you're using a digital SLR camera like a Canon 60D or Nikon D90 with a built-in "crop factor" as this will increase the size of the subject by 50% to 60%. The one time they do cluster together is during a "mob attack", when they advance in a writhing pack, heads reared, simultaneously growling and snapping. This suggests a single, large and relentless adversary and is evidently so impressive that it intimidates foes such as jackals, eagles, and vultures! Dwarf Mongoose The dwarf mongoose is the smallest of this family found in Africa with a total length, including the tail, of around 38cm (15"). These cute little critters, with their pink noses and bright are gregarious and live in holes burrowed in termite mounds, heading off during the day in groups to forage for food. Dwarf mongooses are also highly co-operative and pack members will help feed any babies by catching and bringing insects back to the den. In South Africa's Kruger National Park we were lucky to find some pack members bustling about on top of a termite mound, near the road. But even at this range I had to use my Canon EF 100-400mm telephoto zoom lens at full zoom to bring them close enough. Return to Wildlife Galleries

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