How do banded mongooses locate and select anvils for cracking encased food items?

► Banded mongooses crack open encased food items against hard anvils. ► We test spatial and physical aspects of anvil selection with field experiments. ► Mongooses are able to navigate to suitable anvils in their territory. ► They select hard over soft natural anvils, but choose synthetic anvils at random. ► Anvil selection in mongooses is underpinned by simple rules of thumb.