Common Cusimanse
Crossarchus Obscurus
Time for another animal feature. This post will focus on a member of the mongoose family, the Cusimanse.
Cusimanse are small mongoose with pointed noses, and short tails. They are slightly more stocky than most other mongoose, and have a long narrow nose, rather than the more broad face that other mongoose species have.
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The cusimanse is native to Central and Western Africa, with the common species residing in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Like other mongoose species, the cusimanse is primarily a carnivore, feeding on insects and invertibrates, as well as small reptiles and rodents. They have excellent eyesight and hearing, as well as a highly sensitive sense of smell, making them formidible little hunters.
Much like their other members of the mongoose family, Cusimanse are highly sociable little creatures, who live in nomadic family groups. Cusimanse prefer a wooded habitat, rather than sprawling open grasslands. If necessary they can climb fairly well, but will more often defend itself against intruders or predators.
I've only seen Cusimanse in captivity twice before, and they seem pretty poorly represented in European zoos and wildlife parks, with the much more popular Meerkat being seen in many more facilities.
Recently, I had the luck of seeing Paignton Zoo's small family of cusimanse (complete with four youngsters) actively foraging round their enclosure. They family continually "chattered" to one another, which is a way of keeping in contact with one another in dense woodland. It was nice to see the four babies too, who were tended to by all the adult members of the group.
The cusimanse is an enchanting little creature (I prefer them to their relatives the meerkat anyday...), that's pretty much unknown to the general public. Hopefully in years to come this little animals populatiry will grow and we'll see a few more of them in zoos and wildlife parks.
