|
|
|
| Sunday, 31 July 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Meerkats : Standing tall in the desert Fact file
A little more than a foot tall, meerkats which belong to the mongoose family are found in the South African Savannah. The name meerkat is the general African term for mongoose. They are extremely social animals and live in large colonies, performing different tasks to benefit the group; the baby-sitters stay close to the burrow with the young which are called kits. The hunters dig for food, which they will share with the young; sentries keep watch for predators; and the teachers spend their time teaching the young to hunt. A meerkat colony's territory may cover many square miles and they may even share much of it with another colony. Meerkats know by instinct that they must use teamwork to survive. Though fairly small, these mammals show great mental capabilities and learn fast. All meerkats, when they grow up, possess enough information to teach another young meerkat to be a contributing member to any meerkat colony.
One of the few predators in the world to attack with absolutely no warning signs, their trademark move is the ultimate surprise sneak-attack! Hunting with great agility, meerkats survive on bugs, small rodents and lizards. They even eat poisonous scorpions by quickly biting off their stingers and gobbling up the rest. Meerkats can catch snakes, even the deadly cobra if they had to, because they are skilful hunters. Bird eggs, spiders and millipedes also make up their menu. Like cats, meerkats too have binocular vision. They have narrow pointed muzzles, small, crescent shaped black ears that stick out for better hearing and dark rings around their eyes. They have tiny teeth to snap at their pray. With dark stripes usually brown on the shoulders, back and tail, their coats are soft furred. The head area is almost white and so is the under belly.
They can close their ears to keep out sound. They weigh around two pounds and grow to a maximum length of 20 inches with their tails alone growing to about eight inches. At the end of a meerkat's four 'fingers' are one, non-retractable claw. The claws are black and about 3 or 4 cm long. They are mainly used with their strong forelegs to dig at an amazing rate. They dig out large burrows with tunnel systems for the colony. Claws are also used with their muscular hind legs to climb the occasional tree. Meerkats love to bask in the sun and are often seen out of their burrows, standing on their hind legs to catch some sun rays! When they are doing sentry duty too, the meerkats are picturesque to look at, standing on their hind legs, scanning the skyline for predators. They use their tails to balance and bark out warnings if they hear, smell or see any predators. There are specialised calls for everything.
Their vocal communication consists of murmuring (any activity), growling and spitting (offensive threat), clucking (scolding), a clear drawn-out-call (avian predators), a gruff warning call (ground predators), alarm bark (defiance) and a soft sound (contentment).Members band together in a large hissing, stiff-jumping mass to intimidate large predators such as the Kaffir cat, Serval and Jackals. Meerkats have a life -span of about 10 years. The female breeds year-round and has a litter of 4-5 kits which are born blind and hairless. They grow quickly and are weaned of their mother's milk by about 3-6 weeks. They emerge from their burrows once they are weaned, closely watched by their kitsitter, mother or father! They are then introduced to unfamiliar, yet standard kat-food by the mother, who starts running around with it in her mouth, encouraging the little ones to grab it from her.
Meerkats usually become fully grown when they are six months old. Once
mature (in about 12 months), the males will often leave the colony to
start their own ones if the colony they were born in grows too big for
them.Meerkats have always been prowlers of the desert, making and digging
their colonies as they go..... |
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Politics | Produced by Lake House |
