Species Fact Profile: Meerkat (Suricata suricatta)

                                                                  Meerkat                                                                                                                                     Suricata suricatta (Schreber, 1776)

Range: Southern Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and into SW Angola)

Habitat:  Arid Grassland, Open Woodland, Semi-Desert

Diet: Insects (80% of the animal portion of their diet, with other invertebrates making up another 10%), Eggs, Plant Matter, some Reptiles and Birds.  

Social Grouping: Packs of up to 30, consisting of multiple family groups

Reproduction: Breeding can take place year round, but largely depends on local environmental conditions, breed when food and water are plentiful, may be paused by times of drought.  Gestation is 11 weeks.  Females can have up to 3 litters (average of 3, but up to 7, young per litter) per year. Young are altricial.  Ears open at 10 days old, eyes at 10-14.  Require simulation from mother in order to excrete or urinate.  Weaned at 7-9 weeks. Sexually mature at 1 year, though females usually breed for the first time at 2 years old.  

Lifespan: 5-10 Years (Wild), Up to 12 Years (Zoo)

      Conservation Status: IUCN Least Concern

•       Head and body length 25-35 centimeters, with thin, tapering tail an additional 17-25 centimeters.  Females average 720 grams, males slightly larger at 730 grams.  Face, legs, and body are all very slender.  Fore-claws are enlarged for digging.  Ears are small.
•       Coat is grey, tan, or brown, sometimes with a silver tint, distinctive black tip on the tail, brown on nose and dark patches around eyes.  Meerkats from the northern part of the range tend to be lighter, darker in the south.  Dark horizontal bands on the dorsal surface (excluding head and tail).  Ventral surface is very sparsely haired.
•       Male offspring emigrate from their birth pack when mature, may try to found or take over another, sometimes forming coalitions
•       Males assist in caring for young, as do non-breeding helpers in the pack, which guard and provision the young, or babysit to allow the mother to feed
•       Live in packs that may consist of up to 3 family groups, totaling about 30 individuals per pack.  Each family unit has a breeding pair and their offspring.  Life within packs usually peaceable, but neighboring packs may be rivals and fight violently.  Home ranges are about 5 square kilometers, marked by communal latrines
•       Burrow system is about 5 meters in diameter with about 15 openings, consisting of multiple tunnels that provide different microclimates.  A territory may consist of several burrow systems 50-100 meters apart, used on a rotational basis.  May also live in rock crevices.  Burrows may be shared with a variety of species, including other mongooses, rock hyraxes, and a variety of rodents, including springhaas, gerbils, grass mice
•       In areas with little moisture, may chew on melons or dig up roots and tubers
•       Post sentinels while foraging, often seen standing erect from a high position.  Sentinel duty rotates throughout the day.  Predators include raptors (especially martial eagles) and jackals.  Display different alarm calls in presence of different predators, may mob predators if in numbers.  Parents may cover offspring to hide from aerial predators
•       Active by day, but activity determined by soil temperature.  On cold or rainy days, stay underground in the burrows.  Likewise, if it is too hot, they will retreat underground.  Will sunbathe or huddle to keep warm
•       Common name from the Dutch for a kind of monkey, derived from the Old High German meer (“lake”) and kat (“cat”).  Name was used by Dutch settlers for a variety of burrowing animals, and is sometimes applied to other mongooses (this species is sometimes called the slender-tailed meerkat).
•       Three recognized subspecies – the nominate in southern Namibia and Botswana and South Africa, S. s. majoriae in central and northern Namibia, and S. s. iona in Angola
•       Regarded as agricultural pests in some parts of their range, both due to their burrows and to the diseases they can carry, including rabies.
•       Subject of long term study, the Kalahari Meerkat Project by Tim Clutton-Brock, which studies cooperative behavior among meerkats. Species is very popularly depicted in nature documentaries, especially the Animal Planet series Meetkat Manner, which followed the Kalahari Meerkat Project. 
•        Notable examples of the species in popular culture include Timon, the meerkat from The Lion King, and the island-dwelling semi-aquatic meerkats from Yann Martel’s Life of Pi