Meerkat  (Suricata suricatta)

Meerkat Vital Statistics

Vision: Color. The dark eye markings act like built-in sunglasses.

Feet: Non-retractable claws. Four toes.

Ears: Closeable.

Height: 12 inches.

Weight: 2 pounds.

Light-absorbency: Called the "Solar Panel Of The Animal World," meerkats use their dark-skinned, sparsely furred bellies to warm up.

Taxonomy: Members of the mongoose family.

Tail: 8 inches long and used as a tripod to balance the animal in an upright position.

Activity: Diurnal (active during the day).

Life span: 12 to 14 years.

Society: A group of meerkats, usually five to thirty members is called a "mob" or a "gang."

Home range: Southern Africa/Kalahari Desert

Dwelling: Grass-lined burrows that are shared with ground squirrels and yellow mongoose.

Toilet: Common latrine used by all members.

Transience: Mob moves several times annually if food supply is depleted.

Competitiveness: Meerkats are very territorial and will fiercely defend their home from other meerkat mobs

Meerkat Predators

Guardianship: Meerkats are "snack size" for a number of animals so one always stands guard while the others forage or nap.

Primary predators: Martial eagles and jackals.

911: Various alarm calls indicate different predators.

Meerkat Breeding

Specialization: Alpha male and female do most of the breeding.

Litter size: 2 to 5. Usually once a year.

Gestation: Eleven weeks.

Breeding season: October - April.

Helplessness: Born with eyes and ears closed. Sparsely furred.

Helpfulness: Various adults will baby-sit the youngsters while the mother feeds.

Precociousness: Sexually mature at one year.

Meerkat Food

Diet: Scorpions (meerkats are immune to their venom) beetles, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, worms, crickets (FAST food), small mammals, small reptiles, birds, eggs, tubers and roots.

This information provided as a public service by:

Fellow Earthlings
P.O. Box 1319
Morongo Valley, CA 92256
(760) 363-1344
meerkats@meerkats.com

Meerkats.com You have found the official online home of the Meerkats. Here you can visit with Suricata suricatta, and learn all about these rascally mammals!

The Meerkat Mpango - This page is dedicated to bringing you up-to-date links, pictures, and the broadest information on meerkats and other mammals of the world.

Meerkats in the Wild - many excellent meerkat photos that Roberta Stacy took when in the Kalahari Desert with Pam Wallberg during May 2000

More Meerkat photos than you'd know what to do with - there's dozens!

Suricata suricatta University of Michigan Meerkat page

Meerkat Birmingham Zoo, USA Meerkat page