Rikki-Tikki-Tavi!!  He’s the mascot for empiricism, people.  (I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Shermer had a pet mongoose.)  And then the little fella just kicks the crap out of poisonous snakes.

“It is the hardest thing in the world to frighten a mongoose, because he is eaten up from nose to tail with curiosity. The motto of all the mongoose family is “Run and find out,” and Rikki-Tikki was a true mongoose.”

— Rudyard Kipling, “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”

“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”
At the hole where he went in
Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.
Hear what little Red-Eye saith:
“Nag, come up and dance with death!”
Eye to eye and head to head,
(Keep the measure, Nag.)
This shall end when one is dead;
(At thy pleasure, Nag.)
Turn for turn and twist for twist–
(Run and hide thee, Nag.)
Hah! The hooded Death has missed!
(Woe betide thee, Nag!)”

— from Rudyard Kipling’s “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”