« The A Team | Main | Knee Pads »
May 27, 2006
Serpent Devourer
Do you know why there arn't any snakes on Caribbean Islands?
The mongoose was introduced from India by sugarcane farmers to eradicate the destructive cane rat. The experiment did not succeed because the rats climbed into the trees and remained safe from the mongoose.
The mongoose soon gained notoriety as it turned to poultry, ground-nesting birds, even fish and crabs, but the mongoose does much better with snakes, even poisonous ones. In fact, it has long been called serpent devourer. The mongoose is not immune to snake bites, It doesn't need to be. Its success lay in its agility and its ability to judge accurately the next move of a snake. These fuckers are fast beyond belief.
Its fight with the snake begins when the mongoose provokes the snake to attack. When it strikes the mongoose deftly moves out of range. After a repeat strike, the mongoose is generally ready to close the deal. When the snake is extended at the end-range of its strike, It springs and clamps its jaws on the snake's head before it can recoil and the fat lady has sung. Mongoose 1, snake 0. A mongoose is never defeated. They eat the snake, including the poison glands, which are harmless in the mongoose's stomach.
I've seen 'em, and they are bad to the bone.
Just is case you were wondering.
Posted by Yabu at May 27, 2006 12:35 PM | General
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://badbadjuju.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/553
I hope I never meet a mongoose...
Posted by: Lisa W. at May 27, 2006 01:29 PM
Rikki Tikki Tavi...
Posted by: Kelly at May 27, 2006 02:16 PM
I always wanted a mongoose. You can keep the snakes though...
Posted by: RedNeck at May 28, 2006 10:57 PM
I must have read Rikki Tikki Tavi about a hundred times as a kid. Love that tale. Anyhow, I first saw a wild mongoose while camping on Saint John. Really cool. Never seen one fight a snake before, though, except on TV.
Posted by: zonker at May 30, 2006 09:19 AM
