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Project Noah Nature School
Helogale parvula
A group of Dwarf Mongooses in a termite mound in Tarangire National Park. The dwarf mongoose is smallest of the African mongooses and lives in large groups (usually 12-15, although in another spotting I saw closer to 20) that range as much as 75 acres of territory and inhabiting as many as 20 termite mounds that are used for shelter and look out stations.
Tarangire park termite mound
One of my favorite and (first really cool) spottings of the trip. Our guide spotted them at quite a distance and we snapped many photos that were barely of the "I saw this" quality. Then we moved closer and closer, with this guy popping out just as we were going to give up on them. Needless to say, we stayed a bit longer, even though some of the people in our group were wanting big 5's
Spotted on Dec 18, 2017
Submitted on Feb 3, 2020
27 Comments (1–25)
Thank you all. I'm amazed at how many comments and likes
Congrats Karen for the SOTW!
Very nice :)
Yes TKD,indeed
Or TKD as the case may be?
Congrats Karen!!
Maybe u can teach it karate!
congrats, and great spotting!!!
These are often harder to find than the big 5's
Congratulations Karen! What a cute spotting! Lovely series. Big 5's are cool but people forget the other wonders of nature! Like this one.
Congratulations, Karen. Hey, where can I get some of those?
Congratulations to you and Helogale parvula for teaming up for a well deserved SOTW !
That first pic stole my heart!
Thank you so much for the honor!
Beautiful series Karen,congrats on the well deserved SOTD and thanks for sharing
KarenSaxton, your Spotting has been voted Spotting of the Week! Rangers loved this unique mongoose spotting and appreciated your detailed educational notes. Thank you for sharing this wonderful spotting with the Project Noah community!
https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah/pho...
https://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/1...
I cannot imagine staying away from Africa for so long!!
Wonderful spotting, Karen, and congrats on your sotw nomination. I haven't seen one of these beautiful mongooses since 1985. Time flies, but they are still damn cute.
What a cutie, great spot and captures.
We saw the hornbills right nearby, although this was a mid day drive.
When researching for a book I was writing I came to know that Dwarf mongooses form foraging communities with a variety of endemic bird species, especially hornbills...and the birds come to wake them up. Also, if the scout mongoose does not see the avian alarm clocks, it goes right back inside the termite mounds and the colony sleeps a bit longer (like hitting the snooze button). This photo brought back what I had read a few years ago...THANK YOU for sharing.
Thank you all. What a surprise and an honor to find out I was nominated for spotting of the week!
great spotting!!!
How nice that the mongoose chose to reveal itself when you happened to come by! I didn't know they slept in termite mounds. I only learned recently that round-eared bats in Costa Rica sleep in arboreal termite mounds.
Wonderful spotting of a dear little creature, Karen. Thanks for sharing.
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!