The Common Dwarf Mongoose (Helogale parvula) lives in the dry grasslands and open forests of Angola, northern Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and East Africa. It has the characteristics of a typical mongoose- a large pointed head, small ears, a long tail, and short limbs and long claws. The fur is soft and varies in color, from yellow-red to dark brown. The Common Dwarf Mongoose mostly eats insects- beetle larvae, termites, grasshoppers, and crickets, but it will occasionally eat small lizards, snakes, small birds, rodents, and berries. As a social species, the Common Dwarf Mongoose lives in extended family groups of two to thirty animals.