大象传媒

Co-operation is so vital to mongoose survival that some mongooses have teamed up with other creatures. Dwarf mongooses, for example, are not renowned for their early rising so hornbills make a point of flying to the termite mound where they are dozing in order to wake them up. Once fully awake, the dwarf mongooses scentmark their den and then set out to hunt insects, accompanied by the attentive hornbills. The industrious mongooses flush out many insects, but also miss some which the hornbills can then snap up. In turn, the hornbills act as sentinels, calling out should danger appear from the air. With the hornbills' help, these tiny hunters are able to concentrate more on feeding and less on predators. The mongooses' social skills have allowed them to specialise in hunting insects by day, making them a brilliant example of one of the two major roads down which the carnivores have evolved. As specialists, they concentrate on just a few kinds of prey.