Meerkats are also known as Suricates or slender-tailed mongooses.
The Honolulu Zoo houses only male meerkats. This is to ensure no possibility of an escaped group to establish a breeding population. If this were to occur, they could seriously damage the natural ecosystem (Honolulu Zoo, 2001).
Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical
No species of mongoose is known to be threatened or endangered (The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens).
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
See Reproduction.
Meerkats are significant carriers of rabies. However, there have only been 10 documented instances of rabies-infected meerkats attacking people or domestic animals in the past ten years. They are also a carrier of tick-borne diseases (van Staaden, 1994).
In some areas, meerkats are regarded as pests (The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens). This label is probably correlated with the ecological effects of their burrow construction and being carriers of disease (van Staaden, 1994).
Negative Impacts: crop pest; causes or carries domestic animal disease
Meerkats may slow the increase of agricultural pest populations, in particularly Lepidopterans. In addition, meerkats adapt well to captive settings and are a popular zoo exhibit animal (van Staaden, 1994).
Positive Impacts: controls pest population
Meerkats are an important link in the food web. They provide food for predators. They also take many invertebrates, probably acting as a control on their own prey populations.
Meerkats are mainly insectivorous, but will take small vertebrates, eggs, and plant matter. They forage regularly for these food items, digging in soil and grass and overturning rocks. Their animal diet consists of 82% insects, 7% arachnids, 3% centipedes, 3% millipedes, 2% reptiles, and 2% birds. Captive meerkats will prey readily upon small mammals (van Staaden, 1994).
Animal Foods: birds; mammals; reptiles; insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods
Plant Foods: leaves
Primary Diet: carnivore (Insectivore )
Meerkats (Suricata suricatta) inhabit portions of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, extending from the south west arid biotic zone and eastward into neighboring southern savanna and grassland areas (van Staaden, 1994). These areas include the majority of the southern tip of Africa up to about 17 degrees South latitude.
Biogeographic Regions: ethiopian (Native )
Meerkats inhabit the most open and arid country of any mongoose species. They are found in areas of savannah and open plains and their distribution depends on soil type, with firm to hard soils being common living grounds (Estes, 1991; van Staaden, 1994).
Habitat Regions: tropical
Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune
In captivity, Meerkats have been known to live for over 12 years (Honolulu Zoo, 2001; Oakland Zoo, 1999). Lifespan in the wild may be from 5 to 15 years (van Staaden, 1994).
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 1 (high) years.
Range lifespan
Status: captivity: 12 (high) years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 5 to 15 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 12.5 years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 12.0 years.
S. suricatta is a small herpestid with males averaging 731 grams and females 720 grams. The body and legs of these animals are long and slender, with head and body length between 250 and 350 mm. The tail is thin and tapering to a point, and adds 175-250 mm to the total length of the animal. It is not bushy like many mongoose species.
The face is also tapered, coming to a point at the nose and rounded at the forehead. The ears are small and crescent-shaped. The color of the coat varies geographically. In the southern portion of their range, pelage color is darker, with lighter pelage coloration in the more arid regions, following Gloger's rule. Generally, the color of the coat is peppered gray, tan, or brown with a silver tint. The nose is brown. The ventral parts of the body are only sparsely covered with hair. The fore claws are enlarged for digging and the tail is yellowish tan in color with a distinctive black tip. In addition, there are distinctive dark patches around the eyes. Dark horizontal bands run across the dorsal parts of the body except the head and tail.
The skull exhibits large eye sockets, no sagittal crest, thin zygomatic arch, and a coronoid process of medium height. The dental formula is 3/3 1/1 3/3 2/2 = 36. The incisors curve slightly and the cheek teeth have high, pointed cusps
(van Staaden, 1994; Nowak, 1999).
Average mass: 720-731 g.
Range length: 425 to 600 mm.
Sexual Dimorphism: male larger
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Average mass: 776 g.
Average basal metabolic rate: 1.729 W.
Predators include various avian and mammalian carnivores, such as hawks and eagles (particularly the Martial Eagle) and jackals.
S. suricatta shows a variety of anti-predator behaviors. These behaviors include alarm calling, maintaining an alert stance by propping the body into an upright position, running for cover, defensive threats, mobbing an enemy, self defense, and covering the young.
In defensive threats and mobbing, meerkats appear larger than they actually are. An individual will arch its back, standing as tall as possible on all four legs, with hair and tail erect, and its head lowered. At the same time, it will rock back and forth, growl, hiss, and spit in an attempt to intimidate its enemy. Mobbing requires a group of meerkats all giving defensive threats at the same time. If a predator approaches in spite of these bluffs, a meerkat will lie on its back with teeth and claws fully visible, protecting the back of its neck.
For aerial predators, meerkats will most often flee to a burrow if an attack seems forthcoming. If surprised, however, adults will cover their offspring with their own bodies (Estes, 1991).
Known Predators:
Reports from captivity indicate that there is no elaborate precopulatory display. Males initiate copulation by fighting with the female. If the female resists his attempts to mount her, the male will grip her by the nape until she is submissive. During mating, the male grips the female around the middle to maintain his position until copulation has ended (van Staaden, 1994).
Mating System: cooperative breeder
Females typically breed at about 24 months of age (Clutton-Brock et al., 1999). The breeding season is extended in meerkats when conditions are favorable. In addition, females exhibit no synchrony of estrous, mating, or birth (van Staaden 1994). Therefore, the pack can produce young throughout the year. In the wild, however, births occur most often during the rainy, warmer part of the year from August through March (Estes, 1991; van Staaden, 1994). Breeding may stop during times of drought (Clutton-Brock et al., 1999). Gestation has been reported to be approximately 11 weeks (van Staaden, 1994). In captivity, Meerkats have been known to give birth to 11 litters in 31 months (van Staaden, 1994). In the wild, the average litter size is 3 offspring and females can have up to 3 litters per year (Estes, 1991).
Young are altricial, with ears and eyes closed. They are unable to urinate or defecate without stimulation from their mother. Ears open at about 10 days of age, and eyes at 10-14 days. Young are weaned between 49 and 63 days of age. Meerkats become sexually mature around 1 year of age (van Staaden, 1994).
Breeding season: Although individual females are highly seasonal breeders, within any population of meerkats there are always reproductive females to be found.
Average number of offspring: 3.
Average gestation period: 11 weeks.
Range weaning age: 49 to 63 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 1 years.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 1 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; year-round breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); viviparous
Average birth mass: 29 g.
Average gestation period: 77 days.
Average number of offspring: 4.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male: 365 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 365 days.
As in all mammals, the mother provides the offspring with milk. Young mothers carry their young by picking them up any which-way, whereas older, experienced mothers always carry young by the nape of the neck. The father meerkat may take an active role in parental care by guarding the young. Because of the highly social nature of meerkats, nonbreeding individuals are often part of the pack. These nonbreeders act as helpers, guarding and provisioning the young (van Staaden, 1994).
Parental Investment: altricial ; male parental care ; female parental care
