Animal Fact Sheet
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Meerkat
Suricata suricatta

What does it look like?
Meerkats are small, slender mammals, part of the mongoose family, averaging 12 inches in length with light, grizzled gray coloration, dark bands across their backs and sides.

They have excellent eye sight and sense of smell
They have small, black ears, and yellowish, black tipped tails
Meerkats enjoy basking in the sun, lying in various positions, or sitting up on their back haunches like prairie dogs
Their forefeet have long, powerful non-retractile claws, an excellent adaptation
for digging
Scent glands are located under their tails.

Where in the world?
Meerkats inhabit the driest and most open country of all mongooses. Found primarily in Southern African desert areas of Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, they inhabit dry, open country, generally where the ground is hard or stony. Colonies on the plains may excavate their own burrows or share the holes of African ground squirrels. Those in stony areas live in crevices among the rocks.

What are some behaviors?
These are diurnal and highly gregarious animals where group living is key to meerkats' survival. Highly social, they usually live with 2 or 3 family units totaling 10 to 15 individuals. Each family consists of a pair of adults and their young.
There are at least 10 distinctive meerkat vocalizations include a threatening growl and an alarm bark. Females tend to be the most vocal of the group.

What about offspring?
Most mongooses attain sexual maturity by 2 years of age. In South Africa, the suricates breed only in the warmest and wettest months of the year when food is most abundant. During breeding season, one or more adults remain in the burrow to care for the young while others go out to feed, not emerging until the pack returns. Young are cared for by all adult family members. Lactating females return to nurse the young while other pack members bring them food.

What does it eat?
Their diets consists primarily of grubs and termites, but they also eat tubers, fruits, eggs and small vertebrates. In areas with little or no water they may obtain water by chewing on tsama melons and digging up roots. Family members take turns standing guard in a tripod pose on their hind legs supported by their tails, scanning the area for possible predators while others feed. Meerkats generally forage individually near the burrow, turning over stones and rooting in crevices.

Is it threatened or endangered?
Mongooses are a widespread and successful group. Currently no species is known to be in danger of extinction. However, regarded as pests, the suricates are frequently persecuted by humans.