Meerkats: Everything You Wanted To Know About The Kalahari's Famous Lookouts
Standing on their hind legs and scanning the horizon, meerkats are among the most recognizable small animals in Africa. They live in the dry southern part of the continent, from the southwestern corner of Angola through Namibia and Botswana to South Africa, and are found throughout the Kalahari Desert. What exactly is a meerkat, how does a colony work and why does someone always seem to be on guard? Here is what you need to know.
Meerkats are small mammals built for life in open, dry and semi-desert plains.
What is a meerkat?
The meerkat, known scientifically as Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal of the mongoose family. Its body is about 25 to 35 centimeters long and it weighs roughly 0.6 to 1 kilogram.
What does it look like?
The meerkat's best-known trick is standing upright on its hind legs. Its fur ranges from sandy to light brown, with dark bands across the back, a lighter face and belly, dark patches around the eyes and a black nose. Its slender tail has a dark tip.
Long, sharp claws on the front feet, which can reach about 2 centimeters, help it dig burrows and find small animals hidden under loose sand.
Life in the Kalahari means scorching days, freezing nights and a home underground.
Where do meerkats live?
Meerkats prefer the dry scrubland of the Kalahari, a vast arid region stretching across several countries in southern Africa. Summer temperatures there can exceed 40°C, while winter nights can fall below freezing.
They favor open, flat ground, which lets them spot predators early and dash underground when danger approaches. Below the surface, they dig networks of tunnels and chambers that offer protection and a safe place to raise their young.
A meerkat's day
Meerkats are active during the day. They leave their burrows with the first light of morning and sunbathe to warm up. Then most of the group spreads out to look for food, while some members stay behind to look after the pups.
A meerkat colony is a family affair, usually led by a dominant pair.
Family life
Meerkats live in groups, often called mobs, that usually number from around ten to a few dozen animals. A dominant female and male lead the group and have clear authority over the other members.
Pups
After a pregnancy of around 11 weeks, the female gives birth in a grass-lined chamber of the burrow. The pups are born blind and without fur. Unlike many small mammals, meerkats raise their young as a team: other members of the group help care for the pups and teach them how to survive in the desert.
What do meerkats eat?
Meerkats mainly eat insects and other small creatures such as beetles and scorpions, and they also take small reptiles. A keen sense of smell helps them find prey hidden just under the sand, which is why they spend much of their waking time foraging.
While the group feeds, a sentinel keeps watch and sounds the alarm.
The famous lookouts
Because they are small, meerkats are prey for many animals, especially birds of prey overhead and jackals and snakes on the ground. To stay safe, the group always has a sentinel on watch, usually standing on a higher spot.
When the sentinel spots danger, it warns the others with alarm calls, and those calls differ depending on whether the threat is coming from the sky or from the ground.
How long do they live?
In the wild, a meerkat's life is often cut short by predators and disease, and estimates of their lifespan vary from about 5 to 15 years. They tend to live longer in human care.
Are meerkats endangered?
No. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the meerkat as Least Concern, meaning it is not currently considered threatened with extinction.
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