these appeared to be feeding cages - each was connected to the larger cages at the sides. One hyaena was asleep, the other was walking around with a big chunk of meat. There were also some cats and some mongooses looking hopeful...
Do you mean wild mongooses? You didn't mention mongooses in your zoo thread, are they common in the zoo (and the city)? What species? I'm not up to Mumbai on your trip thread yet (the last bit I read was landing in Sri Lanka), so you might have covered mongooses there I guess.
they were Indian Grey Mongooses Herpestes edwardsii, and yes they were wild ones. The ones in the hyaena cage were actually the only ones I saw at the zoo, but I saw them at the Little Rann of Kutch as well (further north, in Gujarat). However I usually see at least a few mongooses at Indian zoos I've visited, although my sample size is admittedly small...
