What is Mongoose?
{{Taxobox | name = Mongoose | image = Dwarf mongoose Korkeasaari zoo.jpg | image_caption = [[Dwarf Mongoose]] | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]] | classis = [[Mammal]]ia | infraclassis = [[Eutheria]] | superordo = [[Laurasiatheria]] | ordo = [[Carnivora]] | subordo = [[Feliformia]] | superfamila = [[Herpestoidea]] | infraordo = [[Viverroidea]] | familia = '''Herpestidae''' | familia_authority = [[Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte|Bonaparte]], 1845 | subdivision_ranks = [[Subfamily|Subfamiles]] | subdivision = Herpestinae }} A '''mongoose''' (plural mongooses, alternatively mongeese) is a small terrestrial carnivoran mammal of the family '''Herpestidae''', a family of small [[cat]]-like [[carnivore]]s. Mongooses are widely distributed in [[Asia]], [[Africa]] the [[Caribbean]], and southern [[Europe]]. == In popular culture == A well-known mongoose written in [[fiction]] is [[Rikki-Tikki-Tavi]], who has a [[short story]] of the same title in ''[[The Jungle Book]]'' (1894) by [[Rudyard Kipling]]. In this story set in India, the young mongoose saves his family from a [[Common Krait|krait]] and from two [[cobra]]s, named Nag and Nagaina. This story was later made into several [[movie]]s, and also a song by [[Donovan]]. There is a Mongoose [[fictional character]] in [[Bram Stoker]]'s [[novel]], ''The Lair of the White Worm.'' The main character, Adam Salton, buys one to hunt [[snake]]s. Game Freak's [[Pokémon]] [[media franchise]] has a Pokémon named [[Zangoose]], named after the mongoose. [[Category:Feliformia]] {{biology-stub}}