Meerkat

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Meerkat

The Meerkat is found on the dry plains and semi-desert in and around the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. It range covers parts of Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. It prefers open ground. It lives in colonies of up 30 animals in the Kalahari Desert, where temperatures soar by day and plummet at night. Shelter is scarce here, so meerkats have many burrows within their foraging territory where they sleep and take refuge. When foraging, at least one member of the gang acts as lookout, sitting up or standing to get the best view.

Babysitters help out

Each gang contains several family units with a male and female breeding pair in each. There is a special breeding burrow where pups are born. They are raised here for the first three weeks, then allowed outside with babysitter females while their mother goes in search of food. E ach pup is taught how to forage by and adult mentor and is able to fend for itself by the age of 10 weeks.

Part of Meerkat

• strong tail – used for added support when standing
• long, strong hind leg – good support when the meerkat stands upright on sentry duty for long periods of time. Meekats can walk on two or four legs
• slender, lithe build – enable the meerkat to dive underground quickly. Its fur rangeds in colour from silver to brown and acts as camouflage againt the sandy ground and pale grasses of the kalahari
• dark bands – around the eyes reduces glare from the sun, so the meerkat can see a bird of prey while looking straight into the sun
• ears – can be closed to keep dirt out when the meerkat is digging

Stastistics

• status – common
• social unit – group
• lenght – 25-35 cm
• tail – 17-25 cm
• weight – 600-975 g
• sexual maturity – about 1 year
• breeding season – any time, depending on food availability
• gestation period – about 75 days
• number of young – 2-5
• breeding interval – 12 months
• diet – insects, scorpions, lizards, mice, eggs, fruit, roots
• lifespan – up to 6 years

Myth or fact

For a long time, it was throught that meerkats stood sentry for the rest of the colony as an act of selfless heroism. Now it seems more likely that standing guard simply gives a meerkat a better opportunity to save its own skin. Apparently, no guard was ever attacked by a predator during 2000 hours of observation. Also, even though guards sounded the alarm on spotting predators, they were also the first to dive into a nearby burrow.

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