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Description

Species Name: Meerkat

Species Latin Name: Suricata suricatta

Also Known As: Suricate

Native To: Southern Africa

Conservation Status: Least concern

Photo Taken At: Ballarat Wildlife Park

Size (length): 25-35cm (9.8 – 13.8 inches)

Weight: 0.7-0.9kg (1.5 – 2 pounds)

Top Speed: 32kmh (19.9mph)

Lifespan: 5-15 years

Population Size: 500,000

Diet: Insectivore, carnivore, omnivore

Lifestyle: Terrestrial, altricial, burrowing, predator, viviparous

Group Name: Troop, committee, delegation, mongeese, mongaggle

Mating Behaviour: Monogamy, Polygyny

Reproduction Season: October – April in the wild, year round in captivity

Pregnancy Duration: 11 weeks

Independent Age: 12 weeks

Age Of Sexual Maturity: 1 year

Baby Name: Pup, mongopoe

Sub Species:

Suricata suricatta Suricatta, located in southern Namibia, southern Botswana, and South Africa

Suricata suricatta Majoriae, located in central and northwestern Namibia

Suricata suricatta Iona, located in southwestern Angola

Description:

The Meerkat or Suricate belongs to the civet and mongoose family. They are very small catlike carnivores that are distinguished by their broad head, large eyes, pointed snouts, long legs, a long tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. Their coat will generally be a light grey or a yellowish brown colour with alternate poorly defined light and dark bands on their backs. They have fore claws that they use to dig tunnels that make up their home and to search for food hidden underground.

Diet:

These animals are primarily insectivores that will primarily feed on beetles, butterflies, and moths. They can also feed on eggs, amphibians, and arthropods such as scorpions which Meerkats have an immunity to their poison. They can also feed on reptiles, small birds, plants and seeds. Meerkats will often eat citron melons (Citrullus caffer), they will eat the melons themselves as well as their roots and tubers for the water content. In captivity these animals will eat plenty of fruits and vegetables in their diet.

Like other species of mongoose Meerkats will spend a lot of their day foraging for food. They will disperse within 5 meters (16 feet) of one another and systematically forage for food whilst maintaining visual and vocal contact. Whilst they forage one of them will stand sentry to look out for potential threats. Meerkats will move from area to area making sure to return to one sight at least one week after their last visit to ensure the food supply is replenished. They seek food using their keen sense of smell, they often dig out soil or turn over stones to find hidden prey. These animals do not usually give chase to their prey with exception of geckos and lizards but only for several meters.

Behaviour:

Meerkats have a broad range of vocalizations that they use to communicate with one another, many of these calls can be combined by repeating the same call over and over or by mixing it with different calls. One study recorded 12 different types of call combinations being used in different situations such as guarding against predators, caring for young, digging, sunbathing, huddling together and for aggression against other Meerkats.

Short range calls are produced whilst these animals forage together and after scanning the area for potential threats. Recruitment calls are made to gather more Meerkats of the same pack to gather when they find a snake or when they find an unfamiliar scent from a predator or rival pack of Meerkats. These animals will also let out an alarm call when they see a predator that is a potential threat to their pack. The nature of the calls can vary depending on how urgent the situation, furthermore when one Meerkat lets out a call the others in the pack will let out their own calls in response. Once more the calls let out by the other Meerkats receiving the initial call will also be subject to change depending on the urgency of the initial call.

The Meerkats are only one of three mongoose species that are a highly social species that inhabits territories in packs. The size of a pack will largely depend on the amount of resources available to them, generally a pack will comprise of 10 – 30 individuals but there are some cases where packs can be much larger. The structure of a pack will consist of 3-4 family units with a male, female, and their young. These animals will work collectively to search for food, to run from predators as well as to flee from floods. Meerkats will live in a complex network of tunnels that are typically 5 meters (16 feet), they will have around 15 openings all around the tunnel network and are usually around 2-3 layers of tunnels deep. In the early mornings the Meerkats will come out to sunbathe, after that they will work as a community to forage for food. As they forage for food some will keep a look out for potential threats whilst others will look after the young. The ones standing guard will stand tall on their hind legs to get a better view of their surroundings as well as the sky, when a threat is seen the guard will let out a call and the rest of the pack will collectively run back into their burrows for safety.

Generally these animals will stick with a monogamous relationship type structure where both the dominant male and the dominant female in the pack will be the only ones allowed to breed. That said there are cases where subordinate females will get pregnant or when subordinate males will temporarily leave the pack in order to mate with a female from a different pack which is indicative of polygynous behaviour. In the wild these animals will have their mating season from October-April, in captivity they breed all year around. Pregnancy lasts for about 11 weeks where the female will give birth to about 2-5 pups. The pups will remain in the burrow for about 3 weeks whilst they are taken care of by helpers in the pack, after four weeks the pups will go out of the burrow and start to forage with the others. For the first 49-63 days of their lives they will be fed by the helpers of the pack whilst being taught how to get their own food. The young will become independent by the age of 12 weeks and will reach sexual maturity 1 year after being born.

Conservation:

These animals are listed as least concern but they are still protected in several areas and have a variety of reservations and research programs dedicated to protect and better understand this species. There aren't any current significant threats to this animal with the exception of low rainfall which can lead to the demise of entire packs in a given local area.

These animals seem to have a relatively positive relation to humans, they are relatively tame compared to other animals. That said they do not make suitable pets as they can be rather aggressive and emit a strong unpleasant odor. These animals locally have been used to kill rodent in local households as well as on farmland, they are even known to drive out yellow mongooses from their burrows. These animals have been known to spread tick-borne diseases as well as rabies however, the spread of rabies has been known to spread far more from yellow mongooses than from Meerkats.

Further Reading (general information):

Wikipedia: Meerkat - Wikipedia

Kidadl: Did You Know? Incredible Meercat Facts (kidadl.com)

Animalia: Meerkat - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio

Are Meerkats Endangered: Are Meerkats Endangered? What We Can Do To Help Them Right Now (kidadl.com)

Description

Species Name: Meerkat

Species Latin Name: Suricata suricatta

Also Known As: Suricate

Native To: Southern Africa

Conservation Status: Least concern

Photo Taken At: Ballarat Wildlife Park

Size (length): 25-35cm (9.8 – 13.8 inches)

Weight: 0.7-0.9kg (1.5 – 2 pounds)

Top Speed: 32kmh (19.9mph)

Lifespan: 5-15 years

Population Size: 500,000

Diet: Insectivore, carnivore, omnivore

Lifestyle: Terrestrial, altricial, burrowing, predator, viviparous

Group Name: Troop, committee, delegation, mongeese, mongaggle

Mating Behaviour: Monogamy, Polygyny

Reproduction Season: October – April in the wild, year round in captivity

Pregnancy Duration: 11 weeks

Independent Age: 12 weeks

Age Of Sexual Maturity: 1 year

Baby Name: Pup, mongopoe

Sub Species:

Suricata suricatta Suricatta, located in southern Namibia, southern Botswana, and South Africa

Suricata suricatta Majoriae, located in central and northwestern Namibia

Suricata suricatta Iona, located in southwestern Angola

Description:

The Meerkat or Suricate belongs to the civet and mongoose family. They are very small catlike carnivores that are distinguished by their broad head, large eyes, pointed snouts, long legs, a long tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. Their coat will generally be a light grey or a yellowish brown colour with alternate poorly defined light and dark bands on their backs. They have fore claws that they use to dig tunnels that make up their home and to search for food hidden underground.

Diet:

These animals are primarily insectivores that will primarily feed on beetles, butterflies, and moths. They can also feed on eggs, amphibians, and arthropods such as scorpions which Meerkats have an immunity to their poison. They can also feed on reptiles, small birds, plants and seeds. Meerkats will often eat citron melons (Citrullus caffer), they will eat the melons themselves as well as their roots and tubers for the water content. In captivity these animals will eat plenty of fruits and vegetables in their diet.

Like other species of mongoose Meerkats will spend a lot of their day foraging for food. They will disperse within 5 meters (16 feet) of one another and systematically forage for food whilst maintaining visual and vocal contact. Whilst they forage one of them will stand sentry to look out for potential threats. Meerkats will move from area to area making sure to return to one sight at least one week after their last visit to ensure the food supply is replenished. They seek food using their keen sense of smell, they often dig out soil or turn over stones to find hidden prey. These animals do not usually give chase to their prey with exception of geckos and lizards but only for several meters.

Behaviour:

Meerkats have a broad range of vocalizations that they use to communicate with one another, many of these calls can be combined by repeating the same call over and over or by mixing it with different calls. One study recorded 12 different types of call combinations being used in different situations such as guarding against predators, caring for young, digging, sunbathing, huddling together and for aggression against other Meerkats.

Short range calls are produced whilst these animals forage together and after scanning the area for potential threats. Recruitment calls are made to gather more Meerkats of the same pack to gather when they find a snake or when they find an unfamiliar scent from a predator or rival pack of Meerkats. These animals will also let out an alarm call when they see a predator that is a potential threat to their pack. The nature of the calls can vary depending on how urgent the situation, furthermore when one Meerkat lets out a call the others in the pack will let out their own calls in response. Once more the calls let out by the other Meerkats receiving the initial call will also be subject to change depending on the urgency of the initial call.

The Meerkats are only one of three mongoose species that are a highly social species that inhabits territories in packs. The size of a pack will largely depend on the amount of resources available to them, generally a pack will comprise of 10 – 30 individuals but there are some cases where packs can be much larger. The structure of a pack will consist of 3-4 family units with a male, female, and their young. These animals will work collectively to search for food, to run from predators as well as to flee from floods. Meerkats will live in a complex network of tunnels that are typically 5 meters (16 feet), they will have around 15 openings all around the tunnel network and are usually around 2-3 layers of tunnels deep. In the early mornings the Meerkats will come out to sunbathe, after that they will work as a community to forage for food. As they forage for food some will keep a look out for potential threats whilst others will look after the young. The ones standing guard will stand tall on their hind legs to get a better view of their surroundings as well as the sky, when a threat is seen the guard will let out a call and the rest of the pack will collectively run back into their burrows for safety.

Generally these animals will stick with a monogamous relationship type structure where both the dominant male and the dominant female in the pack will be the only ones allowed to breed. That said there are cases where subordinate females will get pregnant or when subordinate males will temporarily leave the pack in order to mate with a female from a different pack which is indicative of polygynous behaviour. In the wild these animals will have their mating season from October-April, in captivity they breed all year around. Pregnancy lasts for about 11 weeks where the female will give birth to about 2-5 pups. The pups will remain in the burrow for about 3 weeks whilst they are taken care of by helpers in the pack, after four weeks the pups will go out of the burrow and start to forage with the others. For the first 49-63 days of their lives they will be fed by the helpers of the pack whilst being taught how to get their own food. The young will become independent by the age of 12 weeks and will reach sexual maturity 1 year after being born.

Conservation:

These animals are listed as least concern but they are still protected in several areas and have a variety of reservations and research programs dedicated to protect and better understand this species. There aren't any current significant threats to this animal with the exception of low rainfall which can lead to the demise of entire packs in a given local area.

These animals seem to have a relatively positive relation to humans, they are relatively tame compared to other animals. That said they do not make suitable pets as they can be rather aggressive and emit a strong unpleasant odor. These animals locally have been used to kill rodent in local households as well as on farmland, they are even known to drive out yellow mongooses from their burrows. These animals have been known to spread tick-borne diseases as well as rabies however, the spread of rabies has been known to spread far more from yellow mongooses than from Meerkats.

Further Reading (general information):

Wikipedia: Meerkat - Wikipedia

Kidadl: Did You Know? Incredible Meercat Facts (kidadl.com)

Animalia: Meerkat - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio

Are Meerkats Endangered: Are Meerkats Endangered? What We Can Do To Help Them Right Now (kidadl.com)