The Dwarf Mongoose is Neat

This is a project from my core STEAM class POPULATION where we have learned about the taxonomy of animals and set theory. Set theory is the mathematical classification of anything. I have been researching this animal for a few weeks and went to the Lincoln Park Zoo and took a photograph of it. I also researched the taxonomy of the animal which is the information that tells you the relatives and knowledge of the animal. 

    The animal that I chose is the Dwarf Mongoose the scientific name is Helogale parvula. Some cool facts about this animal are that it lives in the grasslands of the Savannah and it is the smallest carnivore on the planet. It also has no major predators and can live for 10-14 years. It is also nocturnal and is a mammal.

    Here, I have a photo of a Dwarf Mongoose I created a collage out of magazines and turned it into a GIF that shows each of the taxonomic levels of the taxonomy tree of the Dwarf Mongoose.

CJH. Photograph of Mongoose. 2019.

CJH. Dwarf Mongoose GIF. 2019.

This is the entire taxonomy of the Dwarf Mongoose

	Taxa	Specific characteristic that identifies the organism in this taxa
Kingdom	Animalia	Multicellular and  an organism that cannot manufacture its own food
Phylum	Chordata	Hollow nerve cord and a muscular tail that extends beyond the anus.
Class	Mammalia	Lungs to breathe, have hair or fur on their bodies, three specialized ear bones used to hear, and mammary glands to feed milk to their young.
Order	Carnivora	Having powerful jaws and teeth adapted for stabbing, tearing, and eating flesh.
Family	Herpestidae	Any carnivorous mammal that is native to Asia, Africa, and southern Europe. Having a slender agile body and a long tail and able to kill venomous snakes.
Genus	Helogale	Carnivorans native to southern Eurasia and mainland Africa.
Species	H. parvula	The scientific name of a Dwarf Mongoose

I have also made a Venn diagram that compares the Dwarf Mongoose (Helogale parvula), a Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) and a Two-Toed Sloth (Choloepus didactylus).

CJH. Venn diagram. 2019.

Below is an example of a set theory that includes the Dwarf Mongoose (Helogale parvula) and a Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus).

Universe: { carnivore, mammal, lives in Savannah, lives in the Arctic, fast swimmer, transparent hair, smaller than 10 ft in height, bigger than 10 ft in height}

Dwarf Mongoose’ = {lives in the arctic, fast swimmer, transparent hair, bigger than 10 ft in height.}

Dwarf Mongoose = {carnivore, mammal, lives in Savannah, nocturnal, lives 10-14 years}

Polar Bear = {lives in the arctic, mammal, carnivore, fast swimmer, transparent hair, bigger than 10 ft in height}

Polar Bear’= {smaller than 10 ft in height, lives in the Savannah, nocturnal, lives 10-14 years}

Polar Bear ∪ Dwarf Mongoose = {carnivore, mammal}

I enjoyed the process of this project because this has shown me the differences between the animals and how they are part of the taxonomic tree. It was difficult to make the collage because I needed the perfect colored pictures from the magazines. Also, the GIF was hard to make because I needed to put the right taxonomy on each picture and it took a lot of time. I enjoyed going to the zoo because I was able to see each of the different animals that were related to the Dwarf Mongoose. This is one of the most underlooked and amazing animals that I have ever researched.