THE ANIMAL FILES

Egyptian mongoose

Herpestes ichneumon

An egg can be opened with a throw.

The Egyptian mongoose searches both wet margins and vegetated country for a varied diet. Its pointed snout and meat-shearing teeth accompany a particularly memorable food-handling behaviour: throwing eggs against a hard surface. Its name does not confine it to Egypt, and river-edge cover matters in parts of its range.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Egyptian mongoose
Image: Anna Liflyand · Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
A slender hunter
A long tail follows a slender body.[1]
Cover beside water
Dense riverside vegetation can be important.[1]
Opening an egg
Eggs can be thrown against rock.[1]

A slender hunter

Coarse grey-to-reddish fur has a flecked appearance, and the tail ends in a dark tip. Small ears and a pointed snout define the head. Developed carnassial teeth shear meat, although the species also takes foods beyond vertebrate prey.[1]

Cover beside water

Habitats include marshy places and areas beside rivers, lakes and coasts. In Iberian scrubland the species favours dense vegetation near rivers. Its distribution extends through parts of Africa and beyond Egypt.[1]

Opening an egg

Eggs join rodents, fish, birds, insects and fruit in the diet. To open an egg, the mongoose can throw it between its legs against a rock or wall. A hard external surface supplies the breaking force; the food need not be crushed entirely within the jaws.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Does 'Egyptian' mean it lives only in Egypt?

No. The documented distribution includes other African regions and places such as Iberia.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

What does a rock add to egg opening?

Reveal the explanation

It provides a hard impact surface, allowing throwing behaviour to break a shell.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Egyptian mongoose (cited revision)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Herpestes ichneumon

Last fact check:

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