Rikki Tikki Tavi would be so proud – four banded mongoose pups and their parents have moved into the Tropic Zone. These petite African carnivores get their name from the black stripes across their backs. And what’s tinier than a dwarf mongoose? Well, their pups, for starters. The dwarf mongoose family lives in the Tropic Zone as well. In the wild, both dwarf and banded mongooses form extensive social groups. Check out this ridiculously cute video of the pups doing their “we’re more adorable than a shoe box full of kittens” routine.
For the record – Mongooses (Herpestidae) are a family of 33 species of small carnivorans from southern Eurasia and mainland Africa. Four additional species from Madagascar in the subfamily Galidiinae, which were previously classified in this family, are also frequently referred to as “mongooses”. Genetic evidence indicates that the Galidiinae are more closely related to other Madagascar carnivorans in the family Eupleridae, which is the closest living group to mongooses.