The Indian grey mongoose or Asian grey mongoose (Urva edwardsii) was first recorded in 1818 by the French naturalist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772 –1844). This is a mongoose that I came across in a paddy field in 2015.
Although they are protected by law in India, the most significant threat leading to their extinction is the ongoing illegal trade in their hair for the manufacture of paintbrushes and shaving brushes. In 2018, the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) seized 155 kilograms of raw hair plucked from 3,000 cheetahs.
Their ability to fight venomous snakes is well-known. I have personally witnessed a fight with a large cobra in Agali, Attappadi. The cobra is caught after expertly dodging left and right in front of it, jumping over it several times, and repeatedly coaxing it to turn and bite and thus making the cobra exhausted. Their weapons in this war include thick and stiff hairs that are stimulated to prevent bites, thick and loose skin, and special acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) that block or neutralize the venom. That is why it is often kept as a pet in homes.
– Vincent Vanur
