I would like to set the record straight

An Indian Grey Mongoose calls for you attention

“Unlike Rodney the Ruddy Common Mongoose, I am not a dodgy jungle salesman peddling snake venom and snake ‘pearls’. He’s made all of us look bad, so I wanted to be proactive and correct your perceptions of us. My kind is proud, bold and values our dignity. We hunt rodents, snakes, lizards and invertebrates very successfully, which is why you will find us spread far and wide across the Indian Subcontinent and West Asia. On occasion we do raid the odd nest or two for birds’ eggs and hatchlings, but that’s all within the law of the jungle, so please don’t get worked up about that. ”

Fun Facts

“Our fights with snakes are legendary. So legendary that Rudyard Kipling wrote a story about it, and the great boxer Muhammad Ali used our technique to beat George Foreman during ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’. It’s an ingenious plan really - let the snake do all the lunging and striking, but stay out of reach. An hour later, the snake is worn out and is taken out with just one bite. Ali called it the ‘rope-a-dope’, an amusing name actually. We use a different tactic with scorpions, we just grab them and dash them against something hard - a style copied by Hulk Hogan and other Pro-wrestlers. So I hope you can see that not all of us are dodgy. Just Rodney. Rodney would sell his own mother!”

Story of the Photo

Dilum got this shot during a morning walk around the borders of the Mahoora Tented Safari Camp in Yala.