Chen Keree (Stripe-necked mongoose)

[Roopak Gangadharan]

There is a folklore in these parts about how the common mongoose when it meets its match in a snake and losses the battle seeks the help of the Chen Keree (Red Mongoose) and how it even gets to ride piggy back and show the way to its larger cousin when they go in search of the snake. The Red one then finishes the job and avenges the insult the snake has heaped on the mongoose clan. Some are of the opinion that the legendary chen keree is not the stripe necked mongoose but if one gets to see the colours on some specimens in the western ghats there is no better word to call it but Red mongoose with striking red covering almost all the coat.

500D, 55-250, 250mm, AE f5.6, ISO 400, 1/250 +0.7EC

Rgds
Roopak

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice image. The distinctive stripe on the neck is visible.It appears to me that it is probing.Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Mrudul Godbole]

That was a interesting folk lore. Good eye contact. Nice you got it fully in the open. Thanks for sharing.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

It's not very easy to get mongooses out in the open, especially when on foot. Grabbing a clear shot of an 'elite' member of the clan is wonderful :). Nicely done. Love the eye contact and the fact that most of the body is in full view. Is this full-frame? How close to it did you get?
Interesting story to go with it.
TFS

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Abhishek this about a 30% crop..actually it came quite close to us and I was in a vehicle.

TFS
Roopak

[Atul Sinai]

Wonderful image, interesting story, great to see this one.

[Bibhav Behera]

Lovely bit of folklore to accompany this intriguing image. Thanks for sharing...

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Thanks all for the comments, along with the folklore ( there is acutally a lot more detail to it including the fight ) I wanted to highlight the difference in coat colour of the 2 subspecies. Herpestes vitticollis inornatus is the more commonly seen of the two and has a dull coat .The kerela subspecies Herpestes vitticollis vitticollis has a bright red coat and some specimens have such striking red that the local name is a perfect fit.

Rgds
Roopak

[Sabyasachi Patra]

This one looks very red. Interesting folklore. I wonder how this story came into being. Nice eye contact and composition. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Kaustuv Chatterjee]

Very interesting folklore and thanks for sharing this wonderful photo...they are quite difficult to photograph normally

[Suraj Sreedhar]

Nice eye contact & image...............
TFS