Meerkats... :

Standing tall in the desert

They may be no more than a foot high but these little cute faced animals do stand tall on the fame they have gained for their upright posture. Anyone who has seen them in their home range, the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa would know about the way the meerkats keep standing on their hind legs all the time to scout the horizon for signs of any danger . As they are very small; ideal snack size for many predators, at least one meerkat takes up sentry duty and keeps a look out for predators while the rest of the family forages for food or sleeps. They keep a look out by standing on their tiny hind legs, stretched to the maximum mostly atop a mound of sand or rock in the vicinity .The animals use their eight inches (20 centimetres ) long tail as a tripod to balance themselves in an upright position.

Now, if anyone is wondering as to whether these animals are related to the feline friends we have at home, going by their name,the answer is no, not at all. The meerkats are members of the mongoose family and are also known as suricates.These little squirrel- like mongooses which weigh no more than two pounds ( 0.9 kilograms) are also famous for another special ability they have .Their ability to keep warm during cold winters. Under a thin layer of stomach hair is a patch of dark skin which collects heat from the winter sun in order to provide warmth on cool days.In fact they are called the solar panels of the animal world because they use their dark-skinned, sparsely furred bellies to warm up.

Both males and females share similar physical traits such as short hair and grey or tan markings. The markings on their backs are unique ; no two are the same. Their ears are tipped with black or dark brown. They have dark bands on their sides and back. Their faces and throat are predominately a shade of white. They use their claws to dig their burrows. They have short legs but their bodies are long and thin. Their tails which are also long and thin have a dark tip. The dark tip enables them to identify other gang members while foraging for food. Generally meerkats forage for food with their tails in an upright position so that they can easily identify their fellow gang members.

Meerkats have dark markings around their eyes that act like built in sunglasses. Their ears can be closed ,which is important as they live in desert land which is subject to sand storms quite often. It also helps to prevent sand from getting into their ears when digging burrows in the sand. They have non-retractable claws on their four toes to give them a good grip on the sandy surfaces they scuttle around in and serve as spades when digging.

Meerkats vision is outstanding. They have a dark band around their eyes, which reduces any glare from the sun. As a result, meerkats have the ability to see a predatory bird as they look directly into the sun. However, their ability to see things close up is not as good. Furthermore, they seem to have a problem with depth perception, not being able to focus within 20 feet (6 metres) of themselves. Often they will bob their head up and down trying to get the perspective right. As a result of this nearsightedness, they will often miss food directly in front of them. They often depend on their sense of smell to find food.

Meerkats are social creatures and live in groups ranging from 5 to 30 members which are called gangs or mobs. Several families may live together in a large community.They believe in working in numbers with some acting as lookout, others as guards and so on. The lookouts use various alarm calls to indicate different predators which may be coming from the ground or air; jackals or birds of prey such as hawks and Martial eagles, that can snatch them from the ground.A sharp, shrill call is usually the signal for all to take cover.If trouble arises, an alarm is sounded by the sentry and the gang will band together in a mob ( a mob is when meerkats band together to fight) to assess what the danger is, and take appropriate defence actions.

They are diurnal(active during the day) and live mostly in grass-lined burrows in the area. Meerkat groups utilise several different burrows and move from one to another. Each burrow is an extensive tunnel-and-room system that remains cool even under the broiling African sun.

Most of the breeding is done by the Alpha male and female. The breeding season is from October-April in the wild and year-round in captivity.The female usually gives birth to a litter of two to five little ones in a burrow after an eleven week gestation (pregnancy period). The pups are born with both eyes and ears closed and are sparsely furred.Like with elephants there are plenty of helping hands around when there is a need for baby siting. So, the mother is free to forage for food while various adults watch the little ones. Fathers and siblings too help to raise meerkat young, teaching them to play and forage and alerting them to the ever present danger from above. Young meerkats are so fearful of predatory birds that even airplanes will send them diving for cover. From week 4 to week 6 the pups will forage with their elders getting nourishment from both milk and insects. At 6 weeks to 16 weeks they will find their own food as well as be supplemented by the elders, and no longer getting milk.

After sixteen weeks they are on their own to find there food Each pup will be taken on by a adult meerkat which will act as a mentor, who will take the responsibility to teach the pup necessary skills for foraging for food as well as responding to danger. Male meerkats tend to mentor male pups and female meerkats tend to mentor the female pups. Many of the skills meerkats have are taught by the mentors rather then being instinctual. The cobra sometimes threatens meerkat young. Meerkats will mob a cobra relentlessly if it tries to enter their burrow. They are agile enough to avoid a snake’s strike. They even have the ability to kill a cobra.

They love grooming one another, wrestling and playing with one other. They have avid curiosities and can make a toy of almost anything. Meerkats diet comprises insects, lizards, birds, and fruit.Scorpions (meerkats are immune to their venom), beetles, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, worms, crickets, small mammals, small reptiles, birds, eggs, tubers and roots. Mobs move several times annually if food supply is depleted. When hunting small game, they generally work as a team and communicate with each other by using purring sounds. Meerkats are good hunters and are sometimes tamed for use as rodent-catchers. So, they certainly have some traits of our cat friends, don’t they?

Meerkats are very territorial and will fiercely defend their home from other meerkat gangs.They maintain an area of about one to three square miles.

Their territorial expansion depends on the size of the gang, as well as, the abundance of food and water in the area. Meerkats mark their territory with the use of their anal gland or saliva from their cheek.

This marking is done by the alpha male of the gang. They will protect their boundaries ferociously against other gangs. They have from 6 to 15 dens in their territory and will move dens every day or two.

Fast facts

*The name Meerkat comes from the Afrikaans (Dutch population of South Africa). The English translation is marsh cat, although Meerkats don’t live near marshes and they are not cats. Their proper scientific name is Suricata suricatta. (Class - Mammalia , Order - Carnivora , Family - Viverridae.) They were first named in 1776. There are three different subspecies of meerkats
* They will live in the wild up to 10 years. However, in captivity they can live to be 15 years of age.
* Meerkats hunt during the day. They live at night in burrows, which are complex tunnel systems consisting of mounds, access holes, and tunnels which lead to numerous sleeping chambers
* A meerkat community is called a mob or gang, and can number up to 40. There is always a dominate alpha male and dominate alpha female in each gang
* Meerkats live in southern part of Africa which is dominated by the Kalahari Desert - The Kalahari spreads over the countries of South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Botswana, and Zimbabwe
* There are four digits on each foot with very sharp non-retractile claws which are curved.
* Meerkats fur ranges in colour from silver to orange to brown.
* Meerkats also have the unique ability to close their ears, this is to keep dirt out while they burrow, which they do quite often.
* Meerkats constantly communicate with one another in three different ways: scent, sound, and body language. They have over 20 different sounds that have been recorded which have different meanings. These calls can be broken down into six different groups: lost calls, alarm calls, leading the group calls, pup feeding calls, guarding calls, and foraging calls.