Mongooses walking by

• Published in: The Jerusalem post
• Main Author: Barshaw, Diana
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jerusalem The Jerusalem Post Ltd 30.10.2009
• Subjects: Ben-Ya; Kipling, Rudyard; Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

It is startling and intimidating how false information can proliferate. For example, if you search the Internet for information about mongoose immunity to snake venom, you will find many reports stating that contrary to what everyone thinks, mongooses are not immune from venom. On the Wikipedia page for Egyptian mongooses it states, "Contrary to popular opinion, they are not immune to snake venom [6]." As you can see, this statement has a citation. However the citation is not primary literature. It is another site much like Wikipedia, and around and around the false information goes. Contrary to the Web sites, Egyptian mongooses do have a remarkable resistance to venom. In 1977 Michael Ovadia and his supervisor Prof. Elazar Kochva showed that mongooses are resistant to snake venoms that affect the nervous system, and in 1996 Avner Bdolah and his colleagues showed mongooses to be resistant to another type of snake venom that affects the circulatory system. More recently a group of scientists led by Orna Ashera in the lab of Prof. Sara Fuchs of the Weizmann Institute published a series of papers that show how the Egyptian mongoose resists the nervous-system venoms. So with all the solid evidence that shows mongooses are indeed protected from snake venom, from where does the false rumor originate? I think I know the answer. In "[Rikki-Tikki-Tavi]-Tavi" Kipling said about mongoose immunity, "That is not true. The victory [of the mongoose over the snake] is only a matter of quickness of eye and quickness of foot." If you see a mongoose walking by think how lucky we are that they eat the snakes that might bite us.