Meerkat

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The meerkat or suricate is a small mammal and a member of the mongoose family. It inhabits all parts of the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob" or "gang".

Name

Meerkat is an English loan word from the Dutch, with the literal meaning "lake cat". However, the name has been superseded in Dutch by stokstaartje ("little stick-tail"), and the word only kept its original meaning in Afrikaans and English.

According to African popular belief (mainly in the Zambian/Zimbabwean region), the meerkat is also known as the sun angel, as it protects villages from the moon devil or the werewolf which attack stray cattle or lone tribesmen.

Anatomy

The meerkat is a small diurnal herpestid whose weight averages approximately 731 grams for males and 720 grams for females. Its long and slender body and limbs give it a body length of 25 to 35 cm and an added tail length of 17 to 25 cm. Its tail is not bushy like all other mongoose species, and is long and thin and tapers to a pointed tip which is black or reddish coloured. The meerkat uses its tail to balance when standing vertical. Its face also tapers, coming to a point at the nose, which is brown. The eyes always have black patches surrounding them which help deflect the sun's glare. The meerkat has small, black, crescent-shaped ears that have the ability to close when digging to prevent sand entering.

Meerkat have strong, 2 cm long, curved claws used for digging for prey and altering their underground burrows. They have four toes on each foot and long, slender limbs. The coat is usually fawn-coloured peppered with gray, tan, or brown with a silver tint. They have short, parallel stripes across their backs, extending from the base of the tail to the shoulders, and unique to each animal. The underside of the meerkat has no markings but the belly has a patch which is only sparsely covered with hair and shows the black skin underneath. The meerkat uses this area to absorb heat standing on its rear legs, usually early in the morning after cold desert nights.

Meerkats eat mainly insects, but also lizards, snakes, spiders, plants, eggs and small mammals. Like all mongoose species, they are immune to many venoms, and eats scorpions (including the stinger) and some snakes, without fear of illness, poison or death. They have no fat stores, so foraging for food is a daily need.

Reproduction

Meerkats become sexually mature at about one year of age and have, on average, three young per litter. Wild meerkats have up to three litters per year. Meerkats are iteroparous and can reproduce any time of the year but most births occur in the warmer seasons.

Reports show that there is no precopulatory display; the male fights with the female until she submits to him and copulation begins. Gestation lasts approximately 11 weeks and the young are born within the underground burrow and are altricial. The young's ears open at about 10 days of age, and eyes at 10-14 days, they are weaned around 49 to 63 days. They do not come above ground until at least 21 days of age and stay with babysitters near the burrow. After another week or so they join the adults on a foraging party.

Usually, the alpha pair reserve the right to mate and normally kill any young not their own, to ensure that their offspring has the best chance of survival. They may also exile or kill the mothers of the offending offspring.

Behaviour

Meerkats are burrowing animals, living in large underground networks with multiple entrances which they leave only during the day. They are very social, living in colonies of up to about 40. Animals in the same group often groom each-other to strengthen social bonds. The alpha pair often scent-mark subordinates of the group to express their authority, and this is usually followed by the subordinates grooming the alphas and licking their faces. This behavior is also usually practiced when group members are reunited after a short period apart. Most meerkats in a group are all siblings and offspring of the alpha pair.

Meerkats demonstrate altruistic behaviour within their colonies; one or more meerkats stand sentry (lookout) while others are foraging or playing, to warn them of approaching dangers. When a predator is spotted, the meerkat performing as sentry gives a warning bark, and other members of the gang will run and hide in one of the many bolt holes they have spread across their territory. The sentry meerkat is the first to reappear from the burrow and search for predators, constantly barking to keep the others underground. If there is no threat, the sentry meerkat stops barking and the others feel safe to emerge.

Meerkats also babysit the young in the group. Females that have never produced offspring of their own often lactate to feed the alpha pair's young, while the alpha female is away with the rest of the group. They also protect the young from threats, often endangering their own lives. On warning of danger, the babysitter takes the young underground to safety and is prepared to defend them if the danger follows. If retreating underground is not possible, she collects all young together and lies on top of them.

Despite this altruistic behaviour, meerkats have contradicted this by killing young members of their group. Subordinate meerkats have been seen killing the offspring of more senior members in order to advance their own offsprings' positions. [link]

Meerkats have been known to engage in social activities, including what appear to be wrestling matches and foot races.

Vocalisation

Meerkat calls have recently been noted to carry an element of meaning, with specific calls alerting to the approach of snakes, birds of prey, or other predators. How these calls work is not clear. They are a demonstration that meaning is not solely the domain of human language, although the calls of the meerkat do not constitute a form of language.

More than one field researcher has reported witnessing meerkats in some sort of singing ceremony they compared with yodelling.

Habitat

Meerkats live in southern parts of Africa dominated by the Kalahari Desert, an area of little rainfall and an arid climate with open plains. It spreads across million square miles in Southern Africa and is 10 times the size of Great Britain. The land is covered by a porous or soft sand that in many places is a bright orange colour.

Media

Videos of the Suricata suricatta at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Meerkats in Popular Culture

• Meerkat Manor is a documentary in the style of reality television about a mob of meerkats that are part of a ten year study by the Cambridge University [link]
• Meerkats acquired some fame among the general public after David Attenborough narrated Meerkats United, a popular BBC documentary about them.
• The meerkat may be best known through the character Timon in the Disney film The Lion King and its sequels.
• Meerkats are also mentioned in Yann Martel's Life of Pi.
• Meerkats are mentioned in Phil Morrison's Junebug.
• Meerkats are metioned in Jeff VanderMeer's Veniss Underground.

References

• Mustelid Specialist Group (1996). [Suricata suricatta]. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006.

External links

• [Animal Diversity - Meerkat]
• [Animal information pages - Meerkat]
• [Fellow Earthlings Meerkat Sanctuary]
• [The Meerkat Mpango]
• [The Kalahari Meerkat Project]
• [The Meerkat Magic Project]
• [Meerkat pups go to eating school] BBC News, 13 July 2006. Meerkat pups do not learn how to eat dangerous animals such as scorpions on their own but are taught by adults, scientists have discovered.
• [Meerkat Manor: Naughty Teenagers] Video clip from the Meerkat Manor episode.

 

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