7 Marvelous Meerkat Facts
By Lucille Sive
Meerkats are one of Africa’s most well-known small mammals. They are sometimes hard to see on a game drive, but when you do, they always make for a fascinating sight. Their fun social behavior and iconic stance (on their hind legs to survey the terrain around them) is always a delight to behold.
1) DESPITE THEIR NAME, MEERKATS ARE NOT CATS
Despite what its name may suggest, a meerkat is not a member of the cat family. Meerkats are weasel-like animals that are members of the mongoose family. In colloquial Afrikaans, "meirkat" has come to mean "termite mongoose". Considering meerkats love to feast on termites and often inhabit abandoned termite mounds for shelter, "termite mongoose" seems like a suitable name!
Meerkats are known for their upright stance. Mothers can even feed their young while standing up. They have a broad head, large eyes, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. Their foreclaws are strong, which helps them dig. They also have a pointed snout, which enables them to excavate prey from narrow trenches.
2) MEERKATS CALL SOUTHERN AFRICA HOME
This small mongoose is found in Southern Africa. They thrive in harsh desert environments, which is why they can be found throughout Botswana’s Kalahari Desert, Namibia’s Namib Desert and other arid ecosystems in both Angola and South Africa.
3) MEERKATS ARE EXCELLENT DIGGERS
Using the long claws of their forefeet, meerkats can dig through sand equal to their own weight (up to 5 pounds) in mere seconds. This superior digging skill comes in handy to forage for food, create new burrows and even to make clouds of dust to evade predators.
4) MEERKATS LIVE IN LARGE FAMILIES
In the wild, meerkats live in large families that are called "mobs", "gangs" or "clans". Average meerkat mobs have about 20 members in them, but researchers have discovered so-called “super families” that have as many as 50 members.
5) MEERKATS ARE CARNIVORES.
A meerkat’s diet consists mostly of insects. Termites are a favorite, but they also eat other small animals including lizards, snakes, spiders, and scorpions. With such a wide-ranging diet, it’s a good thing that meerkats are immune to certain types of poison, such as scorpion venom.
6) MEERKATS FORAGE IN GROUPS
When a meerkat is one month old, it accompanies an adult meerkat to learn how to forage for food. While the meerkat group forages for food, at least one member of the clan is put on sentry duty to watch for predators. While on look-out duty, the sentry meerkat will continually make small peeping sounds to let the foraging clan know that all is well, and the cost is clear.
7) MEERKATS ARE VOCAL
Different types of meerkat calls mean different things. For example, if a sentry meerkat spots a potential predator, she will begin an alarm call (which could be a trill, growl, or bark, depending on the circumstance) which will increase in intensity as the detected threat approaches. The type of alarm call also varies based on whether the predator is in the air or on land. This allows the alerted meerkats to adjust their behavior based on the type of predator. They also dig emergency bolt holes throughout their territories. This is so that, when they are out hunting, they can easily hide if a predator comes along.