When it’s a ferret!
Ferrets are Mustelids. They are Caniform Carnivores.
Mongooses are Herpestids. They are Feliform Carnivores.
Ferrets are more closely related to dogs and bears.
Mongooses are more closely related cats and hyenas.
Ferrets are poor stand-ins for mongooses.
Further, it is mostly fiction that mongooses kill adult cobras. Where does it come from? Well, fiction.
Remember this story from The Jungle Book?
Orson Welles and June Foray provide some of the voice acting in this short animated film, so it’s quite a classic.
*Yes, I recognize the “Liberal Humanitarian Imperialism” or “White Man’s Burden” subtext that appears far too often in too many of Kipling’s writings, including this story.
