Whence
Meerkat
Animal

Where does Meerkat come from?

Meerkats come from the dry, open country of southern Africa, in the Kalahari and Karoo regions of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. These small mongooses live in close-knit groups that take turns keeping watch and even teach their young how to hunt.

Mongooses of the dry south-west

The meerkat is a small mongoose, 24 to 35 cm long and weighing under a kilogram. It lives in south-western Botswana, western and southern Namibia and northern and western South Africa, and only just reaches south-western Angola. It favours arid, open land with little woody vegetation and stony ground, from the plains of the Kalahari to the dry riverbeds of the Karoo, where rain averages under 600 mm a year. Groups shelter in burrows whose steady temperatures protect them from extreme heat and cold.

Taking turns on guard

Meerkats live in groups of two or three to about 40. A dominant female and male produce over 80 per cent of the pups, and other group members help raise them. While the rest forage, some individuals stand sentry from a safe lookout, warning of eagles, falcons and snakes with sharp, repeated barks. Guarding has no fixed rota: a 1999 study found that well-fed meerkats simply guard more often, so a full stomach makes a good sentinel.

Lessons with scorpions

Meerkats eat mainly beetles, moths and butterflies, but also lizards, small birds and scorpions. In 2006, Cambridge researchers working in the Kalahari showed that adults teach pups to handle such prey. Helpers first bring young pups dead or disabled prey, often removing a scorpion's sting, and offer more live prey as the pups' begging calls show they are growing up. If a pup hesitates, the helper nudges the prey towards it.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org ↗ · cam.ac.uk ↗ · doi.org › science.1128727 ↗ · doi.org › science.284.5420.1640 ↗

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