Meerkat

About the meerkat

The meerkat, or suricate, is a small mongoose found across southern Africa, known for a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat. Head-and-body length runs about 24 to 35 cm (9.4–13.8 in), and adults typically weigh between 0.62 and 0.97 kg (1.4–2.1 lb), with little difference between males and females, though some dominant females run heavier than the rest of a group. Its coat is light grey to yellowish-brown with faint alternating light and dark bands on the back, guard hairs tipped in black or silvery white, and a mostly white head; the underparts are sparsely furred with dark reddish-brown hair, letting the dark skin beneath show through. The slim, yellowish tail, tipped in black, measures 17 to 25 cm (6.7–9.8 in) and is used for balance when the animal stands upright. Three subspecies are recognized, distributed across the Cape and South Africa, central and northwestern Namibia, and southwestern Angola.

Meerkats are well adapted for a life of digging. Their large, sharp, curved foreclaws are specialized even among carnivoran relatives, and their crescent-shaped ears can close to keep out dirt while they dig. They have four digits on each foot with thick pads underneath, and while they are capable diggers and tunnel-walkers and can stand upright easily, they are not well suited to running or climbing. A specialized thermoregulation system helps them survive in a harsh desert climate: body temperature follows a daily rhythm, averaging about 38.3°C (100.9°F) during the day and 36.3°C (97.3°F) at night, and the animal's heart rate and oxygen use drop sharply once its body temperature falls below its thermoneutral zone of roughly 30–32.5°C (86.0–90.5°F).

Meerkats belong to the mongoose family, part of a broader group of African mongooses that evolved eusocial behavior, including kusimanses, dwarf mongooses, the Liberian mongoose, and banded mongooses. Fossils of meerkats dating back roughly 2.59 million to 10,000 years have been found at several sites in South Africa.

Behavior and diet

Meerkats are highly social animals, living in packs of two to 30 individuals that include several family units and roughly equal numbers of males and females. They are a cooperatively breeding species: dominant pairs typically produce the pack's offspring, while nonbreeding, subordinate members act as helpers, caring for pups, standing sentry, and watching for predators. Older individuals generally hold higher social status, and dominant members may increase their own care of pups when fewer helpers are available. Encounters between different packs are frequently violent, and conspecific violence accounts for an estimated 19% of meerkat deaths — the highest recorded share of any mammal. Dominant females compete fiercely for status, sometimes killing the litters of subordinate females, which pushes some subordinates to disperse to other packs during the breeding season in search of better prospects.

Active mainly during the day, especially in early morning and late afternoon, meerkats stay constantly alert, posting sentries and retreating to their burrows at the first sign of danger. They communicate through a wide range of calls, including sharp, repetitive barks used to warn the group of approaching predators such as Cape cobras, martial and tawny eagles, lions, spotted hyenas, honey badgers, and jackals. Mobs of meerkats will fiercely mob snakes that venture too close to the group.

The meerkat's diet is primarily insectivorous, built around beetles and lepidopterans along with other arthropods, but it will also eat amphibians, small birds, reptiles, and plant matter. Breeding happens year-round with peaks during heavy rainfall; after a gestation of 60 to 70 days, a litter of three to seven pups is born.

Range and habitat

Meerkats occupy arid, open country with little woody vegetation across southwestern Botswana, western and southern Namibia, and northern and western South Africa, with their range extending just into southwestern Angola. Packs occupy home ranges that average around 5 km2 (1.9 sq mi) but can run as large as 15 km2 (5.8 sq mi).

Within this territory, meerkats live either in rock crevices in stony, often calcareous ground, or in extensive burrow systems dug into open plains. A typical burrow system spans about 5 m (16 ft) across with roughly 15 entrances, though some documented systems reach 25 by 32 m (82 by 105 ft) with as many as 90 openings. These networks run two to three levels deep, with tunnels about 7.5 cm (3.0 in) high near the top that widen further down, extending as deep as 1.5 m (5 ft) underground. Burrows moderate internal temperatures with roughly an eight-hour lag behind outside conditions, so they stay coolest by day and warmest at night; summer burrow temperatures run between 21 and 39°C (70–102°F) near the surface, narrowing to about 22.6–23.2°C (72.7–73.8°F) at greater depth. This buffered microclimate lets meerkats avoid extreme heat and cold without expending as much energy thermoregulating on their own, and packs may relocate to a different burrow system entirely if the dominant female struggles to find food nearby.

Conservation status

The meerkat is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, in a 2015 assessment, and its population trend appears to be stable. It ranges widely across four countries in southern Africa and occurs in protected areas such as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Makgadikgadi Pan.

There are no significant threats apart from low rainfall, which can kill entire packs. Heat is a growing concern: in the Kalahari, higher maximum temperatures are linked to lower pup survival and body mass, and to higher rates of tuberculosis infection.

Meerkats are also among the best-studied small mammals. The Kalahari Meerkat Project, founded by Tim Clutton-Brock, is a long-term study of their cooperative behavior and has been based at the Kuruman River Reserve since 1993.