Meerkats are small mammals of the mongoose family and live in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. Their height is about 30cm long, their tails are about 20cm, and they weigh approximately 4 kilograms. Meerkats are also called suricates. Meerkats have brown, gray, or orange fur and they have closeable ears. These small animals have four toes on their feet with non-retractable claws. They see in color, not like dogs.  The dark circles around the eyes act like built-in sunglasses.

Meerkats are omnivores; they eat both meat and plants. They feed on scorpions, spiders, centipedes, worms, crickets, eggs, roots and fruit. They are immune to scorpion’s venom.

Meerkats are great hunters. In the summer they get up early to avoid looking for food in the heat of midday, and when it is really hot, they look for shade to cool off or take a nap. The food is abundant in wet season; at that time meerkats are walking around with big bellies.  It’s harder to find food in dry season, and in the winter they wait until it warms up to go looking for food. They enjoy no napping during the winter days because they have to work harder to find food.

Eagles, hawks and jackals are their primary predators. Meerkats stand on their hind legs to see the surroundings better, and a few members of the group always stand guard while others forage or nap. Meerkats have many different signal systems for alarming others that a predator is near. They travel in packs called “mob “or “gang”. The size of a mob can range from five to thirty members. The mobs fight to protect their territory or to get more territory, but sometimes they go to different mobs for breeding reasons. Meerkats have several different burrows and move from one to another. An extensive tunnel-and-room system makes a cool place for these mammals, in the scorching sun of Africa. The planned reasoning behind such an elaborate construction of multiple entrances is to provide many substitute exits if a dangerous gatecrasher should raid their home.   Meerkats are playful, curious and social animals. They like to groom one another, they love to wrestle and can play with almost any object they find.

There is more than one theory of meerkat evolution. One theory is that meerkats evolved from a banded mongoose. According to Sean Doolan’s theory, they evolved from an extinct meerkat type called Suricata Suricatta major. Female meerkats give birth to two or four meerkats each year in one of the burrows. Mothers can take care of their young while standing on their hind legs. Young ones are afraid of anything in the air. Father and siblings teach the young meerkats survival skills and how to forage and play. The life span for meerkats is twelve to fourteen years. The baby meerkat who screeches the loudest begging call gets the most food.  

One of the most famous meerkats is Timone from The Lion King. Timone, the cartoon character is based on real-life meerkat Timone, who is domesticated. Timone lives in private refuge for meerkats outside Palm Springs California.

 

Timone in the Lion King… in real life is… this Meerkat.