Meerkat
| Meerkat | |
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| Genus: | Suricata Desmarest, 1804
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| Species: | S. suricatta
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| Suricata suricatta | |
| File:Leefgebied stokstaartje.jpg | |
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The meerkat or suricate Suricata suricatta is a small mammal and a member of the mongoose family. It inhabits all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob" or "gang".
Name
"Meerkat" is an English loan word from Afrikaans. The name came from Dutch but by misidentification. Dutch meerkat and German Meerkatze mean "guenon", a monkey of the Cercopithecus genus. The word "meerkat" looks like Dutch for "lake cat", but neither suricatas nor guenons are attracted to lakes; the word possibly started as a Dutch adaptation of a derivative of Sanskrit markaţa मर्कट = "monkey", perhaps in Africa via an Indian sailor onboard a Dutch East India Company ship. The traders of the Dutch East India Company were likely familiar with monkeys, but the Dutch settlers attached the name to the wrong animal at the Cape. The suricata is called stokstaartje = "little stick-tail" in Dutch and Erdmännchen = "little earth-man" in German.
According to African popular belief (mainly in the Zambian/Zimbabwean region), the meerkat is also known as the sun angel, as it protects villages from the moon devil or the werewolf which is believed to attack stray cattle or lone tribesmen.
Anatomy
The meerkat is a small diurnal herpestid (mongoose) weighing on average about 731 grams (1.61 pounds) for males and 720 grams (1.58 pounds) for females. Its long slender body and limbs give it a body length of 25 to 35 cm (10 to 14 inches) and an added tail length of 17 to 25 cm (7 to 10 inches). Its tail is not bushy like all other mongoose species, but is rather long and thin and tapers to a black or reddish coloured pointed tip. The meerkat uses its tail to balance when standing upright. Its face tapers, coming to a point at the nose, which is brown. The eyes always have black patches around them, which help deflect the sun's glare. The meerkat has small black crescent-shaped ears that can close when digging to keep sand out. Like cats, meerkats have binocular vision, a large peripheral range, depth perception, and eyes on the front of their faces.
At the end of each of a meerkat's "fingers" is a non-retractable, strong, 2 cm (0.8 inches) long, curved claw used for digging their underground burrows and digging for prey. Claws are also used with muscular hindlegs to help them climb the occasional tree. They have four toes on each foot and long slender limbs. The coat is usually fawn-coloured peppered with gray, tan, or brown with a silver tint. They have short parallel stripes across their backs, extending from the base of the tail to the shoulders. The patterns of stripes are unique to each meerkat. The underside of the meerkat has no markings but the belly has a patch which is only sparsely covered with hair and shows the black skin underneath. The meerkat uses this area to absorb heat while standing on its rear legs, usually early in the morning after cold desert nights.
Diet and foraging behaviour
Meerkats are primarily insectivores, but also eat lizards, snakes, spiders, plants, eggs and small mammals. They are partially immune to certain venoms, and eat scorpions (after removing the stinger) and some snakes. [1] [citation needed] They have no excess body fat stores, so foraging for food is a daily need.
Meerkats forage in a group with one "sentinel" on guard watching for predators while the others search for food. Sentry duty is usually approximatly an hour long. Baby meerkats do not start foraging for food until they are about 6 weeks old, and do so by following an older member of the group who acts as the pup's tutor.
Reproduction
Meerkats become sexually mature at about one year of age and have, on average, three young per litter. Wild meerkats have up to four litters per year. Meerkats are iteroparous and can reproduce any time of the year but most births occur in the warmer seasons.
Reports show that there is no precopulatory display; the male fights with the female until she submits to him and copulation begins. Gestation lasts approximately 11 weeks and the young are born within the underground burrow and are altricial. The young's ears open at about 15 days of age, and eyes at 10-14 days, they are weaned around 49 to 63 days. They do not come above ground until at least 21 days of age and stay with babysitters near the burrow. After another week or so, they join the adults on a foraging party.
Usually, the alpha pair reserves the right to mate and normally kills any young not its own, to ensure that its offspring has the best chance of survival. The dominant couple may also exile or kill the mothers of the offending offspring.
Behavior
Meerkats are burrowing animals, living in large underground networks with multiple entrances which they leave only during the day. They are very social, living in colonies of up to about 30. Animals in the same group regularly groom each other to strengthen social bonds. The alpha pair often scent-mark subordinates of the group to express their authority, and this is usually followed by the subordinates grooming the alphas and licking their faces. This behavior is also usually practiced when group members are reunited after a short period apart. Most meerkats in a group are all siblings and offspring of the alpha pair.
Meerkats demonstrate altruistic behaviour within their colonies; one or more meerkats stand sentry (lookout) while others are foraging or playing, to warn them of approaching dangers. When a predator is spotted, the meerkat performing as sentry gives a warning bark, and other members of the gang will run and hide in one of the many bolt holes they have spread across their territory. The sentry meerkat is the first to reappear from the burrow and search for predators, constantly barking to keep the others underground. If there is no threat, the sentry meerkat stops talking and the others feel safe to emerge.
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, while the alpha female is away with the rest of the group. 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. If retreating underground is not possible, she collects all young together and lies on top of them.
Meerkats are also known to share their burrow with the yellow mongoose and ground squirrel, species with which they do not compete for resources. If they are unlucky, sometimes they share their burrow with snakes.
Meerkats are the first non-human mammal species seen actively teaching their young. Young of most species learn solely by observing adults. 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. [2]
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 advance their own offsprings' positions.[3]
Meerkats have been known to engage in social activities, including what appear to be wrestling matches and foot races.
Vocalisation
It has recently been noted that meerkat calls may carry specific meanings, with specific calls alerting to the approach of snakes, birds of prey, or other predators. How these calls work is not clear.
More than one field researcher has reported witnessing meerkats in some sort of singing ceremony [citation needed] that they compared with yodelling [1].
Meerkat groups
A meerkat group may die out because of predator attack, its alpha pair being unable to breed, starvation in a year when the rains fail, or epidemic disease.
A new meerkat group often arises from evicted females meeting and staying with males who are roaming looking for chances to mate.
A meerkat group which becomes over-large may routinely have to disperse widely to find enough food when foraging, and as a result, when suddenly needing to run for shelter, be liable to parts of the group running to different shelter holes, resulting in the group fissioning. This happened twice to the Whiskers group in Meerkat Manor due to a goshawk attacking the group, and once due to a mistake when invading enemy territory; each time afterwards the group managed to reunite, but in other cases the split may be permanent. In 2001[2] before the Meerkat Manor events happened a group of roving males from the Vivian group attacked the Whiskers group looking for females; at least two of those males (Zaphod and Yossarian) remained in the Whiskers as new boss males, and the others split off some Whiskers females and thus formed the Gattaca group.
For examples of these processes, see Meerkat Manor#Meerkat groups under study.
See:-
Meerkats in popular culture
- The character Timon in the Disney film The Lion King and its sequels is a meerkat.
- Meerkats are mentioned as Ashley's favorite type of animal in the film Junebug.
- Meerkat Manor is a documentary film broadcasting on Animal Planet on the Sky TV channel 570 and BBC2 in the UK. It's presented in the style of a soap opera about a mob of meerkats that are part of a ten year study by Cambridge University [3]. The show is narrated by Sean Astin and Bill Nighy respectively.
- Meerkats acquired some fame among the general public after David Attenborough narrated Meerkats United, a popular BBC documentary about them.
- Meerkats are also mentioned in Yann Martel's Life of Pi.
- Meerkats featured in a popular TV advertisement for Clorets Mints in the UK.
- The videoclip for Dirty Harry by the Gorillaz has animated meerkats making a few brief appearances.
- Standing meerkats are O’Reilly’s mascot.
- A meerkat named Mello is the mascot of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
- Sentient meerkats play a major role in the science fiction book Veniss Underground by Jeff VanderMeer.
- At the end of The My Two Dads episode of The O.C., the entire Cohen family has some family time together watching a movie about meerkats at Kirsten Cohen's preference.
See also
Notes
- ^ David Attenborough, 2000. Meerkats United
- ^ Thornton, Alex (2006). "Teaching in Wild Meerkats". Science. 313 (5784): 227–9. doi:10.1126/science.1128727. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
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References
- Template:IUCN2006
- David Macdonald (Photography by Nigel Dennis): Meerkats. London: New Holland Publishers, 1999.
External links
- Meerkat photos in the Mkgadikgadi Pans
- Meerkat video, photos and information
- Animal Diversity - Meerkat
- Learn About Meerkats
- Animal information pages - Meerkat
- Fellow Earthlings Meerkat Sanctuary
- The Meerkat Mpango
- The Kalahari Meerkat Project
- The Meerkat Magic Project
- Meerkat Manor on Animal Planet
- Meerkat pups go to eating school BBC News, 13 July 2006. Meerkat pups do not learn how to eat dangerous animals such as scorpions on their own but are taught by adults, scientists have discovered.
- Meerkat pictures