Mob of Mongooses Steals a Meal From a Much Bigger Baboon

Mongooses Go Crazy on a Baboon Twenty Times Their Size to Steal a Meal!

In the incredible video at the top of the page, a pack of mongooses band together to take on a baboon! The clip begins on the gang of opportunistic mongooses, observing a baboon chow down on what appears to be a hare. Like a little sibling watching their senior sibling eat a treat, the mongooses are visibly jealous! Despite the baboon being big enough to make a meal out of the mongooses themselves, strength in numbers boosts their confidence! 

Within just the first few seconds of the clip, the mongooses begin their harassment of the baboon. And the baboon is prepared to deal with the pests, as individually the mongooses don’t pose any threat to the baboon. But they aren’t alone, and their persistence begins to get to the baboon! While they might be smaller, the mongooses seem quite a bit more clever than the baboon! Darting in and out at the baboon from all angles, it eventually drops its snack in order to chase one of them further away. 

And as soon as the baboon has dropped the half eaten carcass, the mongoose gang knows they’ve won! The baboon tries to get back quickly to reclaim its meal, but it can only slap the ground where it once was in frustration. The mongooses carry it far away enough to be safe, and then burst into a feeding frenzy! Now that the mongooses have teamed up to beat the bigger baboon, they have to fight over the prize amongst one another! They keep a shred of comradery though, with one mongoose watching guard over the others while they eat.

Banded Mongooses: Ganging Up to Cause Trouble!

Banded mongooses, highly social and native to Africa, group up into ‘troops’ as visible in the video at the top of the page. These groups can be huge, with a range of 20 all the way up to 40 individuals. Mongooses thrive in their relatively complex social structures, and work together to hunt and defend themselves well. Mongooses hunt everything from insects such as crickets, to small mammals like mice or rabbits. Smaller reptiles are on the menu as well, with smaller lizards needing to watch their back around mongooses. This incredibly tight-knit nature of mongoose troops is best shown by their communication and behavior. Seemingly being able to read each other’s minds, having a big group all on the same page is a huge advantage in the wild!

In the face of potential threats, banded mongooses once again lean on their incredible teamwork, but also show their individual courage. Their cooperative defense mechanism transforms them into a unified, formidable force against predators. Banded mongooses show this strength against way larger foes, like the baboon in the video at the top of the page! But that’s not all, as banded mongoose troops can even team up and kill venomous snakes! Strength in numbers is surely an advantage, with banded mongooses being yet another species that show how!

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Michel VIARD/iStock via Getty Images