Meerkat

The meerkat (Suricata suricatta) or suricate is a small mongoose and the only member of the genus Suricata. It lives in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan". A meerkat clan often consists of about 20 individuals, but some big clans have 50 or more members. In captivity, meerkats have an average life span of 12–14 years, and about 6–7 years in the wild.

Meerkat
Temporal range: Pliocene–Recent
↓
[1]
A mob of meerkats in Tswalu Kalahari Reserve

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Suborder: Feliformia
Family: Herpestidae
Genus: Suricata
Desmarest, 1804
Species:
S. suricatta
Binomial name
Suricata suricatta
(Schreber, 1776)
Meerkat range
Synonyms[3][4]

Etymology

"Meerkat" is a loanword from Afrikaans (pronounced [ˈmɪərkat]).[5] The name is derived from Dutch, but by misidentification. In Dutch, meerkat means the guenon, a monkey of the genus Cercopithecus.[6] The word meerkat is Dutch for "lake cat".[7] the word possibly started as a Dutch adaptation of a derivative of Sanskrit markaṭa = "ape",[8] perhaps in Africa via an Indian sailor on board a Dutch East India Company ship.[9]

In early literature, the suricate was referred to as mierkat. In colloquial Afrikaans, mier means termite, and kat means cat. It has been suggested that the name refers to its association with termite mounds.[3]

Taxonomy

In 1776, Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber described a meerkat from the Cape of Good Hope, giving it the scientific name Viverra suricatta.[10] The generic name Suricata was proposed by Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest in 1804, who also described a zoological specimen from the same location.[11] The present scientific name, Suricata suricatta, was first used by zoologists Oldfield Thomas and Harold Schwann in 1905 when they described a specimen collected from Wakkerstroom. They suggested there were four local races of meerkats in the Cape and Deelfontein, Grahamstown, Orange River Colony and southern Transvaal, and Klipfontein respectively.[12] Several zoological specimens were described from the 18th to 20th centuries, of which three are recognized as valid subspecies:[3][4]

  • S. s. suricatta (Schreber, 1776): Occurs in Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa
  • S. s. majoriae Bradfield, 1936: Occurs in the Kalahari[13]
  • S. s. iona Crawford-Cabral, 1971: Occurs in southwestern Angola[14]

Physical characteristics
Skull and dentition, as illustrated in Gervais' Histoire naturelle des mammifères
Meerkat skeleton exhibited at the Museum of Osteology
Closeup of a meerkat's forefeet

The meerkat is a small mongoose of slim build characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail and obscure, dark brown streaks on the back. It is smaller than most other mongooses except the dwarf mongooses (genus Helogale) and possibly Galerella species.[3] The head-and-body length is around 24–35 cm (9.4–13.8 in), and the weight has been recorded to be between 0.62–0.97 kg (1.4–2.1 lb). The soft coat is light gray to yellowish brown with alternate light and dark bands on the back. Individuals from the southern part of the range tend to be darker. The guard hairs, light at the base, have two dark rings and are tipped with black or silvery white; several such hairs aligned together form the brindled pattern.[3][15] These hairs are typically between 1.5 and 2 cm (0.59 and 0.79 in), but measure 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) on the flanks. The head is mostly white and the underparts are covered sparsely with dark reddish brown fur.[3][16] The eyes, in sockets covering over 20% of the skull length, are capable of binocular vision.[3][17] The slim, yellowish tail, unlike the bushy tails of many other mongooses, measures 17 to 25 cm (6.7 to 9.8 in), and is tipped with black. Females have six nipples.[3]

The meerkat has 36 teeth; the dental formula is 3.1.3.23.1.3.2.[3] The physical design of the meerkat facilitates digging, movement through tunnels and standing erect, though it is not as capable of running and climbing. The big, sharp and curved foreclaws are highly specialized among the feliforms, and enable the meerkat to dig efficiently.[3][18] The black, crescent-like ears can be closed to prevent the entry of dirt and debris while digging. The tail is used to balance when standing upright, as well as for signaling. Digitigrade, the meerkat has long, narrow legs with four digits on the forefeet and five on the hind feet.[3]

Meerkats show a specialized thermoregulation system that helps them survive in their hot, arid habitat. A study showed that the body temperature of meerkats follows a diurnal rhythm, averaging 38.3 °C (100.9 °F) during the day and 36.3 °C (97.3 °F) at night. As the body temperature falls below the thermoneutral zone, determined to be 30–32.5 °C (86.0–90.5 °F) for meerkats, the heart rate and oxygen consumption plummet; perspiration increases sharply at temperatures above the zone. Meerkats additionally have a basal metabolic rate remarkably lower than other carnivores, which helps in conserving water and decreasing heat output from metabolic processes. During winter, the meerkat balances heat loss by increasing the metabolic heat generation and other methods such as sunbathing.[19][3]

Behaviour and ecology
Meerkat watching out

Meerkats are small burrowing mammals, living in large underground networks with multiple entrances which they leave only during the day, except to avoid the heat of the afternoon.[20] They are very social creatures and they live in colonies together.[21] Animals in the same group groom each other regularly.[22] To look out for predators, one or more meerkats stand sentry, to warn others of approaching dangers.[23] When a predator is spotted, the meerkat performing as sentry gives a warning bark or whistle, and other members of the group run and hide in one of the many holes they have spread across their territory.[24]

Meerkats also babysit the young in the group. Females that have never produced offspring of their own often lactate to feed the alpha pair's young.[21] They also protect the young from threats, often endangering their own lives. On warning of danger, the babysitter takes the young underground to safety and is prepared to defend them if the danger follows.[25]

Meerkats are also known to share their burrow with the yellow mongoose and ground squirrel.[25] Like many species, meerkat young learn by observing and mimicking adult behaviour, though adults also engage in active instruction. For example, meerkat adults teach their pups how to eat a venomous scorpion: they will remove the stinger and help the pup learn how to handle the creature.[26]

Despite this altruistic behaviour, meerkats sometimes kill young members of their group. Subordinate meerkats have been seen killing the offspring of more senior members in order to improve their own offspring's position.[27]

When colonies are exposed to human presence for a long time, they will become habituated, which allows for documentation of their natural behavior. It is not unusual for camera crews, who must largely stay still for long periods while filming, to be utilized as convenient sentry posts.[28]

Vocalization

Meerkat calls may carry specific meanings, with particular calls indicating the type of predator and the urgency of the situation. In addition to alarm calls, meerkats also make panic calls, recruitment calls, and moving calls. They chirrup, trill, growl, or bark, depending on the circumstances.[29] Meerkats make different alarm calls depending upon whether they see an aerial or a terrestrial predator. Moreover, acoustic characteristics of the call will change with the urgency of the potential predatory episode. Therefore, six different predatory alarm calls with six different meanings have been identified: aerial predator with low, medium, and high urgency; and terrestrial predator with low, medium, and high urgency. Meerkats respond differently after hearing a terrestrial predator alarm call than after hearing an aerial predator alarm call. For example, upon hearing a high-urgency terrestrial predator alarm call, meerkats are most likely to seek shelter and scan the area. On the other hand, upon hearing a high-urgency aerial predator alarm call, meerkats are most likely to crouch down. On many occasions under these circumstances, they also look towards the sky to search for predators and any dangers that might harm the clan.[30]

Diet and foraging
Meerkat digging for insects
Meerkat eating a frog

Meerkats are primarily insectivores, but also eat other animals (lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders, eggs, small mammals, millipedes, centipedes and, more rarely, small birds), plants and the desert truffle Kalaharituber pfeilii.[31] Meerkats are immune to certain types of venom, including the very strong venom of the scorpions of the Kalahari Desert.[32]

Baby meerkats do not start foraging for food until they are about one month old, and they do so by following an older member of the group who acts as the pup's tutor.[33] Meerkats forage in a group with one sentry watching for predators while the others search for food. Sentry duty is usually approximately an hour long. The meerkat standing guard makes peeping sounds when all is well.[22]

A meerkat has the ability to dig through a quantity of sand equal to its own weight in just seconds. Digging is done to create burrows, to get food and also to create dust clouds to distract predators.[34]

Reproduction

Meerkats become sexually mature at about two years of age and can have one to four pups in a litter, with three pups being the most common litter size. Meerkats are iteroparous and can reproduce any time of the year.[21] The pups are allowed to leave the burrow at two to three weeks old.[35]

There is no precopulatory display; the male may fight with the female until she submits to him and copulation begins. Gestation lasts approximately 11 weeks and the young are born within the burrow and are altricial (undeveloped). The young's ears open at about 10 days of age, and their eyes at 10–14 days. They are weaned around 49 to 63 days.[21]

Usually, the alpha pair reserves the right to mate and normally kills any young not its own, to ensure that its offspring have the best chance of survival. The dominant couple may also evict the mothers of the offending offspring.[36] New meerkat groups are often formed by evicted females joining a group of males.[37]

Females appear to be able to discriminate the odour of their kin from the odour of their non-kin.[38] Kin recognition is a useful ability that facilitates cooperation among relatives and the avoidance of inbreeding. When mating does occur between meerkat relatives, it often results in negative fitness consequences or inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression was evident for a variety of traits: pup mass at emergence from the natal burrow, hind-foot length, growth until independence and juvenile survival.[39] These negative effects are likely due to the increased homozygosity that arises from inbreeding and the consequent expression of deleterious recessive mutations. The avoidance of inbreeding and the promotion of outcrossing allow the masking of deleterious recessive mutations.[40] (Also see Complementation (genetics).)

Predators

Martial eagles, tawny eagles and jackals are the main predators of meerkats.[41] Meerkats sometimes die of snakebite in confrontations with snakes (puff adders and Cape cobras).[42]

Meerkats as pets
A meerkat on display at a zoo.

Meerkats, being wild animals, make poor pets. They can be aggressive, especially toward guests, and may bite. They will scent-mark their owner and the house (their "territory").[43]

See also
  • Kalahari Meerkat Project, a long-term research project
  • Meerkats in popular culture
  • The Meerkats, a 2008 documentary feature film

References
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Further reading
  • Macdonald, D. (1999). Meerkats. London: New Holland Publishers.
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