Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Meerkats (Suri­cata suri­catta) are na­tive to the Ethiopian re­gion, near the south­ern tip of Africa. Their ge­o­graphic range in­cludes the south­west­ern cor­ner of An­gola, ex­tend­ing south­east into Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. Large pop­u­lated areas begin at lat­i­tudes of 21 °S to the south­ern edge of the con­ti­nent. They in­habit the west coast near the At­lantic Ocean and ex­tend as far east as the As­segaai River in north­east­ern South Africa. Many ob­ser­va­tions of meerkats have been made in the south­ern re­gion of the Kala­hari Desert, which spreads through­out most of Botswana, west­ern Namibia, and north­ern South Africa. (Doolan and Mac­don­ald, 1996; Doolan and Mac­don­ald, 1999; Ewer, 1963; King­don, et al., 2013; van Staaden, 1994)

• Biogeographic Regions
• ethiopian
  • native

Habi­tat

Meerkats live in a range of habi­tats, in­clud­ing arid or semi-arid open plains and rocky crevices near rivers. Meerkats are most com­monly found in velds, which are flat, open habi­tats cov­ered by scrub, grasses, and sparse trees. Spe­cific types of veld habi­tat that meerkats use in­clude Karoo scrub, Kala­hari thorn­veld, Botswana aca­cia scrub, Namibia Camelthorn and High­land range­land, and Botswana semi-desert sa­van­nas – areas which av­er­age less than 600 mm of rain­fall an­nu­ally. An exact el­e­va­tion range has yet to be re­ported for meerkats.

Whether meerkats oc­cupy a cer­tain habi­tat is in­flu­enced by soil type, as they cre­ate com­plex bur­row sys­tems. They oc­cupy areas as­so­ci­ated with firm soil, such as Solonetzi soils, fer­rug­i­nous (iron) soils, and pod­zolic soils, but also oc­cupy sandy, desert soils found in the Kala­hari. Meerkats con­struct their own bur­rows, but may also use aban­doned bur­rows cre­ated by other small mam­mals. Meerkats are also known to dis­place other species from bur­rows that are ac­tively in use.

Meerkat bur­rows, also called dens, range in size and com­plex­ity. The en­trances are sur­rounded by tall mounds of ex­ca­vated dirt. They cre­ate mul­ti­ple en­trances dug at ap­prox­i­mately 40 de­gree an­gles to the plane of the groud. The tun­nels and cham­bers of their dens range in di­am­e­ter from 1 to 5 m. Their dens also in­clude tun­nels that are about 1.5 m long. A study in 1980 re­ported bur­row sys­tems with 2 to 3 lev­els of tun­nels that con­nected cham­bers ap­prox­i­mately 30 cm high by 15 to 45 cm long. Their bur­rows help them stay cool even when am­bi­ent tem­per­a­tures are high. There bur­rows are av­er­age of 13 °C com­pared to an av­er­age an­nual air tem­per­a­ture of about 43 °C in parts of their range. (King­don, et al., 2013; Lynch, 1980; van Staaden, 1994)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• desert or dune
• savanna or grassland
• scrub forest

• Aquatic Biomes
• rivers and streams

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Meerkats are one of the small­est species of mon­gooses in the fam­ily Her­pesti­dae. They are 245 to 290 mm from head to rump, with slen­der bod­ies and tails that are 190 to 240 mm in length. Males have an av­er­age body mass of 731 g while fe­males are an av­er­age of 720 g. Meerkats have 4 long, curved claws on each foot. The claws on their front and hind feet av­er­age 15 mm and 8 mm long, re­spec­tively. In a study ex­am­in­ing 7 meerkats, hind­foot length av­er­aged 55mm (range: 37 to 65 mm) and ear length av­er­aged about 16 mm (range: 11 to 19 mm).

Meerkats ex­hibit dor­sal col­oration of tan, brown, or grey, with areas of white, though spe­cific col­oration varies be­tween in­di­vid­u­als. They typ­i­cally have brown band­ing along their backs, rears, and sides. Their heads are usu­ally com­pletely white, with the ex­cep­tion of brown or tan pelage on the very top of their heads, con­tin­u­ing down their necks and backs. Meerkats also have black rings around their large eyes. Their small, black ears are cres­cent-shaped, often with white or brown ac­cents. Their noses can be pink, brown, black, or a com­bi­na­tion of mul­ti­ple col­ors. Meerkats in south­ern por­tions of their range have darker col­oration com­pared to pop­u­la­tions in the west and north­west.

Meerkats have soft pelage that is mostly short, about 15 to 20 mm in length. How­ever, the hair on their flanks can reach 30 to 40 mm. Meerkats have ta­pered faces with short muz­zles and broad heads with rounded skulls. Their den­tal for­mula is 3/3i, 1/1c, 3/3p, 2/2m. (Ewer, 1963; King­don, et al., 2013; van Staaden, 1994)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Average mass

  725 g

  25.55 oz

• Average mass

  776 g

  27.35 oz

  AnAge

• Average length

  267 mm

  10.51 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  1.729 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Meerkats breed sea­son­ally, com­monly cor­re­spond­ing with greater amounts of rain­fall. A study in 1997 re­ported that the breed­ing sea­son in the south­ern Kala­hari desert lasted from Oc­to­ber to June and 89% of 62 lit­ters were born be­tween De­cem­ber and May. The same study stated that breed­ing sea­sons were ex­tended dur­ing years with abun­dant rain. More rain cor­re­sponds to more nu­tri­ent-rich soil, which leads to a greater abun­dance of food for meerkats. When rain­fall is low, breed­ing is less fre­quent.

Meerkats are con­sid­ered monog­a­mous, co­op­er­a­tive breed­ers. They live in groups, called mobs or gangs. Typ­i­cally, one dom­i­nant pair within each mob re­pro­duces and the sub­or­di­nates help rear the off­spring. Sub­or­di­nate fe­males are often re­pro­duc­tively sup­pressed and, if they do breed, it is dur­ing ex­tremely pro­duc­tive years and at rel­a­tively low rates. Dom­i­nant fe­male meerkats play a role in the sup­press­ing the re­pro­duc­tive ac­tiv­ity of sub­or­di­nate fe­males by means of forced exile or in­fan­ti­cide. Oc­ca­sion­ally, sub­or­di­nates kill the off­spring of dom­i­nant fe­males as well. Near the end of their ges­ta­tion pe­ri­ods, dom­i­nant fe­males often expel sub­or­di­nates from the mob to pro­tect their pups from in­fan­ti­cide. After the off­spring of dom­i­nant fe­males are born, sub­or­di­nates re­turn to their group and be­come helpers. Sub­or­di­nates often help by pro­vid­ing food and pro­tec­tion to ju­ve­niles while the dom­i­nant fe­male feeds. This helps re­duce the en­er­getic de­mands on dom­i­nant fe­males dur­ing lac­tat­ing pe­ri­ods.

Male meerkats use neck grips to calm fe­males into a pas­sive state dur­ing cop­u­la­tion. Males then mount fe­males and grip their mates using their forepaws. Males and fe­males also fight prior to cop­u­la­tion, a be­hav­ior that is thought to arouse fe­males. (Doolan and Mac­Don­ald, 1997; Doolan and Mac­don­ald, 1999; Ewer, 1963; King­don, et al., 2013; Kut­sukake and Clut­ton-Brock, 2006; van Staaden, 1994)

• Mating System
• monogamous
• cooperative breeder

Meerkats breed dur­ing late fall, win­ter, and spring. Fe­males do not ex­hibit syn­chrony in re­pro­duc­tive be­hav­iors, such as es­trus, cop­u­la­tion tim­ing, or par­tu­ri­tion. Al­though fe­males breed vir­tu­ally year-round, they most com­monly give birth at times of the year with higher tem­per­a­tures and lev­els of pre­cip­i­ta­tion.

Within a group, or mob, of meerkats, the dom­i­nant fe­male can have mul­ti­ple lit­ters of off­spring, de­pend­ing on whether their ini­tial lit­ters fail or suc­ceed. If off­spring from early lit­ters die young, the dom­i­nant fe­male can have up to 4 lit­ters per year, av­er­ag­ing 4 pups per lit­ter. Stud­ies in 1997 and 1999 re­ported that dom­i­nant fe­males pro­duced 1.8 to 1.9 per year, with 3 to 7 pups per lit­ter. Meerkats have a ges­ta­tional pe­riod be­tween 60 and 70 days. Meerkats are born weigh­ing 25 to 36 g, with their eyes and ears closed. How­ever, they grow quickly, at a rate of about 4.5 g for the first 3 months, and within 5 days of birth they weigh around 100 g. Pups begin eat­ing solid foods after 23 to 30 days, and are fully weaned at 49 to 63 days. New­born meerkats can­not defe­cate or uri­nate with­out stim­u­la­tion of the per­ineal re­gion from their mother. A 2008 study stated the pups that emerge from the bur­row at about 3 weeks of age are clas­si­fied as “emer­gent pups” and those who sur­vive to 3 months of age are “in­de­pen­dent for­agers”, since they were in­de­pen­dently search­ing for food at this age.

Meerkats reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity when they are around 1 year old. How­ever, fe­males rarely breed be­fore they reach 3 years old. The re­pro­duc­tive con­di­tion of males is often de­pen­dent upon the re­pro­duc­tive con­di­tion of nearby fe­males. The only no­table phys­i­cal change in males is the in­crease in size of their anal glands dur­ing the re­pro­duc­tive pe­riod. One study in 1980 re­ported the mass of male anal glands to be 0.55 g prior to re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity and 0.87 g at re­pro­duc­tive ma­tu­rity. (Clut­ton-Brock, et al., 1999a; Clut­ton-Brock, et al., 1999b; Doolan and Mac­Don­ald, 1997; Ewer, 1973; Hodge, et al., 2008; King­don, et al., 2013; Lynch, 1980; van Staaden, 1994)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• year-round breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
• viviparous

• Breeding interval

  Meerkats are sexually reproductive year round, but breed mostly during fall, winter, and spring. Reproduction timing depends most on levels of rainfall, with more reproduction occurring in wetter parts of the year.

• Breeding season

  October to June

• Range number of offspring

  3 to 7

• Average number of offspring

  4

• Average number of offspring

  4

  AnAge

• Range gestation period

  60 to 70 days

• Range weaning age

  49 to 63 days

• Average time to independence

  3 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  365 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  365 days

  AnAge

Both males and fe­male meerkats ex­hibit parental in­vest­ment to­wards their off­spring. Fe­males feed their pups milk until they are weaned and also help new­born pups defe­cate and uri­nate by stim­u­lat­ing their per­ineal re­gion. Males help guard their young and pro­tect them from preda­tors. Both par­ents also groom their young and par­tic­i­pate in play­time, which con­sists of play fight­ing. Typ­i­cally, younger par­ents are more play­ful whereas older, more ma­ture par­ents tend to be less play­ful. Other mem­bers of the so­cial group, or mob, are also in­volved in rear­ing off­spring. When moth­ers are for­ag­ing for food to main­tain their milk sup­ply, non­breed­ing helpers guard­ing and pro­vide solid food for the young. Ad­di­tion­ally, when a large por­tion of a mob is out for­ag­ing si­mul­ta­ne­ously, one or more adults re­main at their breed­ing den to care for ju­ve­niles. After about 10 to 12 weeks, ju­ve­niles no longer fol­low their par­ents closely and be­come more in­de­pen­dent. (Ewer, 1963; van Staaden, 1994)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• male parental care
• female parental care

Lifes­pan/Longevity

In the wild, meerkats live be­tween 5 and 15 years. Meerkats in­hab­it­ing areas of fre­quent rain­fall and abun­dant food typ­i­cally live longer. Mor­tal­ity rates are high­est in pups and ju­ve­niles, since they are more sus­cep­ti­ble to pre­da­tion, dis­ease, and en­vi­ron­men­tal fac­tors. A study from 2013 stated that when they are 3 to 5 weeks old, meerkat pups are most vul­ner­a­ble to hy­pother­mia, and at 5 to 12 weeks old they are sus­cep­ti­ble to mor­tal­ity by pre­da­tion.

Meerkats in cap­tiv­ity were ob­served to live 12.5 to 20.6 years. (Jones, 1982; King­don, et al., 2013; Nowak, 1999; van Staaden, 1994)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  5 to 15 years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  12.5 to 20.6 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  12.5 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  12.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Meerkats are gre­gar­i­ous for­agers, mean­ing they rely on group co­op­er­a­tion to hunt for prey. Meerkats live in groups, also called mobs, that range in size from 2 to 50 in­di­vid­u­als. Mobs typ­i­cally con­sist of 2 to 3 fam­ily units, with each unit con­tain­ing 1 to 3 fe­males, up to 4 males, and their re­spec­tive off­spring. Mob size re­mains sim­i­lar from year to year, but the in­di­vid­u­als within each mob change fre­quently. Some meerkats stay in one group for the ma­jor­ity of their lives, but fam­ily units com­monly sep­a­rate and join other groups. Ex­pla­na­tions for why meerkats sep­a­rate from their fam­ily unit have not been re­ported.

Hi­er­ar­chy within each meerkat mob is based on so­cial sta­tus, with older in­di­vid­u­als often main­tain­ing higher so­cial sta­tus. How­ever, in some cases fe­males gain a dom­i­nant role through in­her­i­tance, the out­come of ag­gres­sive com­pe­ti­tion, im­mi­gra­tion into a group that lacks a breed­ing fe­male, or by form­ing a new group with males that left other groups. Within each mob, males and fe­males have sep­a­rate hi­er­ar­chies, both of which are di­vided into sub­or­di­nate in­di­vid­u­als and one dom­i­nant in­di­vid­ual of each sex. Dom­i­nant fe­males get food ac­cess be­fore males and sub­or­di­nate fe­males. Sub­or­di­nate fe­males com­monly care for the off­spring of dom­i­nant fe­males. While mobs are for­ag­ing, one typ­i­cally acts as sen­tinel and alarms oth­ers of po­ten­tial dan­gers. This duty is shared be­tween in­di­vid­u­als within a mob, but also de­pends on so­cial sta­tus. Males, specif­i­cally older sub­or­di­nate males, are often ob­served in this po­si­tion.

Meerkats for­age in groups for about 5 to 8 hours per day, stay­ing close enough to each other to main­tain vi­sual and vocal con­tact. Mobs for­age along dif­fer­ent routes each day to avoid de­plet­ing food sources and allow for re­newal of food sources in pre­vi­ously for­aged areas. Meerkats for­age in soil, dig­ging out prey with their forefeet. They have been ob­served bit­ing their prey - specif­i­cally scor­pi­ons - to dis­able it and then begin eat­ing it start­ing at the head. In­di­vid­u­als act­ing as sen­tinels al­ways watch­ing from a high van­tage point while oth­ers are for­ag­ing.

A study from 1963 re­ported meerkats in a va­ri­ety of po­si­tions dur­ing their every­day ac­tiv­i­ties. This study noted 4 com­mon pos­tures: the “low sit”, the "high sit", the "lazy sit", and "sleep­ing" po­si­tions. The low sit is de­scribed as an up­right po­si­tion where they sit on their hind legs with an ex­tended ab­domen. This po­si­tion is com­mon when meerkats are act­ing as look­out or bask­ing in the sun in the early morn­ing. The high sit oc­curs when they raise their bod­ies off of their hind feet and main­tain a stand­ing pos­ture. This is the main look­out pos­ture be­cause it max­i­mizes their view of the sur­round­ing habi­tat. The lazy sit po­si­tion is un­com­mon, but is used for rest­ing while re­main­ing alert. In this po­si­tion, meerkats sit on their hind feet and tails, with their backs arched. Lastly, the sleep­ing pos­ture is an ex­ten­sion of the lazy sit. In­stead of re­main­ing up­right, meerkats in a sleep­ing pos­ture lean over and tuck their heads be­tween their legs to con­serve body heat. Meerkats also sleep clumped to­gether in groups as a means of fur­ther main­tain­ing body heat. Other heat reg­u­la­tion be­hav­iors in­clude stretch­ing out on their stom­achs in shade to cool down, or lying in the sun on their backs or sides to warm up. Meerkats are di­ur­nal and thus are fre­quently ex­posed to in­tense heat from the sun. To re­main cool, meerkats find shade or stay in their bur­rows, which are coller dur­ing the day, and over­all more ther­mi­cally sta­ble than am­bi­ent con­di­tions.

Meerkats use scent to mark ob­jects in their en­vi­ron­ment. Males have anal glands, which they use to mark ob­jects, es­pe­cially dur­ing breed­ing sea­sons. Fe­males do not have anal glands and are not known to leave any se­cre­tions or be­hind, but show the same mark­ing be­hav­ior nonethe­less. It is pos­si­ble that fe­males use this method to mark ob­jects with dif­fer­ent chem­i­cals, such as pheromones, but there is no cur­rent re­search sup­port­ing such pos­si­bil­ity. Both sexes defe­cate and uri­nate near ver­ti­cal sur­faces or cor­ners. Both sexes also ex­hibit anal-drag­ging, leg-lift­ing, body-rub­bing, and sniff­ing be­hav­iors. The anal-drag, in which an in­di­vid­ual drags its anus across a sur­face in a squat­ted po­si­tion, is used for groom­ing and so­cial com­mu­ni­ca­tion. The leg-lift is used to de­posit se­cre­tions. Body-rubs and sniff­ing are used to pick up odors. (Clut­ton-Brock, et al., 1998; Doolan and Mac­Don­ald, 1996; Ewer, 1963; King­don, et al., 2013; van Staaden, 1994)

• Key Behaviors
• fossorial
• diurnal
• motile
• territorial
• social
• dominance hierarchies

• Range territory size

  2 to 10 km^2

Home Range

Meerkats in­habit ter­ri­to­ries be­tween 200 and 1,000 ha of the south­ern Kala­hari. They use scent mark­ings to in­di­cate ter­ri­tory bor­ders, but not home-range bor­ders. Their home ranges are gen­er­ally large; a study in 1994 re­ported a pack of 12 liv­ing in an area en­com­pass­ing ap­prox­i­mately 15.5 km^2. Each home range can have up to 5 bur­row sys­tems sep­a­rated by 50 to 100 m. Meerkat mobs have dif­fer­ent home range sizes de­pend­ing on habi­tat suit­abil­ity and in­ter­ac­tions with neigh­bor­ing mobs. Meerkats only for­age within their home range and rarely ven­ture more than 50 m from the near­est safe bur­row. (Bate­man, et al., 2015; King­don, et al., 2013; van Staaden, 1994)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Meerkats rely most heav­ily on vi­sual stim­uli. Their eyes con­sist en­tirely of cone-shaped retina re­spon­si­ble for dis­tin­guish­ing color and lack rod-shaped retina, which are im­por­tant in low-light en­vi­ron­ments. They are ca­pa­ble of de­tect­ing hawks and other threats from far away, but they do not demon­strate strong vi­sual abil­i­ties in dim light or at night. Meerkats can dis­tin­guish red, blue, green, and yel­low, but have dif­fi­culty with shades of grey. Fur­ther­more, meerkats pos­sess hor­i­zon­tally-elon­gated pupils. This is fa­vor­able for prey species that live in open habi­tats, since they have a greater range of pe­riph­eral vi­sion.

Meerkats de­pend on their sense of smell to for­age for in­sects in the soil. Their hear­ing is thought to be com­pa­ra­ble to that of hu­mans (Homo sapi­ens). How­ever, they have a lim­ited abil­ity to lo­cate the source of sounds, pos­si­bly due to the anatomy of their heads. They have small ex­ter­nal ears, or pin­nae, and they have a small in­ter-au­ral dis­tance, which means sounds reach both of their ears at vir­tu­ally the same time re­gard­less of di­rec­tion.

Meerkats have a large acoustic vo­cab­u­lary and sound plays a cru­cial role in com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Their vo­cab­u­lary con­sists of three main threat sounds and ap­prox­i­mately seven other vo­cal­iza­tions. Their calls can be com­plex and each call cor­re­sponds to a spe­cific ac­tion or mes­sage. When threat­ened, meerkats most com­monly use a growl, ex­plo­sive spit, or harsh repet­i­tive scold­ing call to deter the threat. They use sharp alarm barks to alert other meerkats of dan­ger. When meerkats hear such sharp alarm barks, they re­turn to their re­spec­tive bur­rows. Other vo­cal­iza­tions in­clude a neu­tral con­tact call and calls that com­mu­ni­cate sat­is­fac­tion, fear, a mix of fear and ag­gres­sion, and dis­sat­is­fac­tion. The neu­tral con­tact call is com­pa­ra­ble to purring in small cats (sub­fam­ily Fe­li­nae), meant to com­mu­ni­cate a feel­ing of con­tent­ment. The sat­is­fac­tion call is used when eat­ing, re­lax­ing, and rest­ing. Meerkats use fear calls when there is pos­si­ble dan­ger of an aer­ial preda­tor. The mixed fear/ag­gres­sion vo­cal­iza­tion is com­monly used for dan­ger from ter­res­trial threats. Fi­nally, dis­sat­is­fac­tion calls are used only with con­specifics, and have only been ob­served in cap­tive male meerkats. (Ewer, 1963; King­don, et al., 2013; van Staaden, 1994)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Meerkats are car­ni­vores and are pri­mar­ily in­sec­tiv­o­rous, though they also eat other arthro­pods and some small ver­te­brates. The com­po­si­tion of their de­pends on food avail­abil­ity, which dif­fers de­pend­ing on the sea­son, weather, and habi­tat. A study in 1994 re­ported that meerkats con­sumed mostly in­sects, which make up 82% of their diet, but also con­sumed spi­ders (7%), cen­tipedes (3%), mil­li­pedes (3%), rep­tiles (2%), am­phib­ians (2%), and birds (1%). A 1968 study ex­am­in­ing 18 meerkat stom­achs found that 38% con­tained moths or but­ter­flies (order Lep­i­doptera), and 21% con­tained bee­tles (order Coleoptera). In the win­ter, they rely pri­mar­ily on moths, but­ter­flies and bee­tles, while in the sum­mer their diet is more var­ied, with the ad­di­tion of flies (order Diptera), other arthro­pods, and some ver­te­brates. Meerkats eat snakes as well as geckos and other lizards. They dig holes deep enough to trap geckos, par­tic­u­larly whistling geckos (Pteno­pus gar­ru­lous) and giant ground geckos (Chon­dro­dacty­lus an­gulifer). Meerkats also eat a va­ri­ety of scor­pi­ons in the gen­era Opistoph­tal­mus and Parabuthus. Meerkats rarely drink water, in­stead ob­tain­ing flu­ids through their prey. Dur­ing dry pe­ri­ods of the year, how­ever, meerkats also ac­quire flu­ids by chew­ing fruits or other plant ma­te­ri­als. (Doolan and Mac­don­ald, 1996; King­don, et al., 2013; van Staaden, 1994; Zumpt, 1968)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• amphibians
• reptiles
• eggs
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

• Plant Foods
• sap or other plant fluids

Pre­da­tion

Meerkat pups are most sus­cep­ti­ble to pre­da­tion dur­ing their first 3 months. A study in 1997 found that 30% of pup mor­tal­i­ties were the re­sult of pre­da­tion. The most com­mon preda­tors of pups and older ju­ve­niles in­clude cape co­bras (Naja nivea), mar­tial ea­gles (Pole­mae­tus bel­li­co­sus), tawny ea­gles (Aquila rapax), bateleurs (Terathopius ecau­da­tus), lan­ner fal­cons (Falco biarmi­cus), and pale chant­ing goshawks (Me­lierax canorus). Larger preda­tors such as lions (Pan­thera leo), spot­ted hye­nas (Cro­cuta cro­cuta), and black-backed jack­als (Canis me­some­las) are also con­sid­ered po­ten­tial preda­tors of adult meerkats. The most dan­ger­ous and fre­quent preda­tors to meerkats are jack­als, mar­tial ea­gles, and tawny ea­gles.

Meerkats ac­tively deter some of their preda­tors, such as jack­als and cape co­bras, by mob­bing as a group. Mobs im­me­di­ately at­tack cer­tain preda­tor species upon de­tec­tion, in­clud­ing cape foxes (Vulpes chama), pale chant­ing-goshawks, and other small rap­tors. Meerkats tend to avoid black-backed jack­als and ra­tels (Mel­livora capen­sis), un­less they are in a po­si­tion where they can­not es­cape. De­pend­ing on their group size, meerkats flee to safety in­stead of mob­bing preda­tors. How­ever, meerkats tend to mob preda­tors if their group size is greater than 4 in­di­vid­u­als.

Meerkats avoid pre­da­tion using alarm calls. Meerkats have a sys­tem of calls that they use to alert con­specifics of pos­si­ble preda­tors. They emit dif­fer­ent calls de­pend­ing on the spe­cific preda­tor that is pos­ing a threat. Ad­di­tion­ally, these species-spe­cific calls are struc­turally dif­fer­ent de­pend­ing on the dis­tance be­tween the preda­tor and the mob.

Meerkats also ex­hibit anti-preda­tor be­hav­ior through body lan­guage. When ap­proached by a ter­res­trial enemy, their body pos­ture changes. Their hair stands on end in a process known as pi­lo­erec­tion, they arch their backs, straiten their tails, ex­tend their legs, and slightly lower their heads. These be­hav­iors make them ap­pear larger, which can deter some preda­tors from at­tack­ing. When being at­tacked, meerkats lie on their backs, which pro­tects the napes of their necks, and use their claws and teeth to de­fend them­selves. (Clut­ton-Brock, et al., 1999b; Doolan and Mac­Don­ald, 1997; Ewer, 1963; Hollén, et al., 2008; King­don, et al., 2013; Manser, 2001)

• Known Predators

  • Cape cobras (Naja nivea)
  • Martial eagles (Polemaetus bellicosus)
  • Tawny eagles (Aquila rapax)
  • Bateleurs (Terathopius ecaudatus)
  • Lanner falcons (Falco biarmicus)
  • Pale chanting-goshawks (Melierax canorus)
  • Lions (Panthera leo)
  • Spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta)
  • Black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas)
  • Cape foxes (Vulpes chama)
  • Ratels (Mellivora capensis)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Meerkats have been ob­served to co­ex­ist in mu­tu­alisms with other bur­row­ing species, in­clud­ing yel­low mon­gooses (Cyn­ic­tis peni­cil­lata), cape ground squir­rels (Xerus in­au­ris), African white-tailed mice (My­s­tromys al­bi­cau­da­tus), high­veld ger­bils (Ger­bil­lis­cus brantsii), rock hyraxes (Pro­cavia capen­sis), cape grey mon­gooses (Her­pestes pul­veru­len­tus), and slen­der mon­gooses (Her­pestes san­guineus). These in­ter­spe­cific bur­row­ing re­la­tion­ships are non-com­pet­i­tive in terms of food and space, and thus ul­ti­mately save time and en­ergy for all species in­hab­it­ing a given bur­row.

Meerkats are hosts for a num­ber of ecto- and en­dopar­a­sites. The most com­mon ec­topar­a­sites were fleas, in­clud­ing the species Cteno­cephalides con­na­tus, Echidnophaga bradyta, Echidnophaga gal­li­nacea, Xenop­sylla cryp­tonella, and Syn­os­ter­nus caf­fer. Other ec­topar­a­sites found on meerkats in­clude ticks such as African bont ticks (Am­bly­omma he­braeum), African dog ticks (Haema­physalis leachi), sour veld ticks (Ixodes pi­lo­sus), brown ear ticks (Rhipi­cephalus ap­pen­dic­u­la­tus), and red-legged ticks (Rhipi­cephalus evertsi evertsi). En­dopar­a­sites re­ported in meerkats in­clude helminth species Dipetalonema se­tar­io­sum and Physa­loptera rara, ne­ma­tode species Tox­o­cara suri­cat­tae and Oxynema suri­cat­tae, tape­worms Pseudandrya suri­cat­tae, and pro­to­zoans in the gen­era Cys­toisospora and Eime­ria.

Tu­ber­cu­lo­sis (My­obac­terium bovis) was iden­ti­fied in wild meerkats. Meerkats that groom oth­ers, re­ceive phys­i­cal ag­gres­sion, or rove be­tween groups are at a higher risk of con­tract­ing tu­ber­cu­lo­sis. Meerkats are also sus­cep­ti­ble to tox­o­plas­mo­sis, caused by Tox­o­plasma gondii, which was ob­served in cap­tive meerkats. Tox­o­plas­mo­sis was re­spon­si­ble for the death of seven in­di­vid­u­als in a study from 1997. Meerkats are also car­ri­ers of ra­bies, and are at greater risk of con­tract­ing the dis­ease when in­hab­it­ing bur­rows with yel­low mon­gooses, which are a prin­ci­ple vec­tor of ra­bies. (Drewe, 2010; King­don, et al., 2013; Leclaire and Faulkner, 2014; Lynch, 1980; Morán, et al., 1997; Nel, et al., 2005; van Staaden, 1994)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Meerkats help con­trol pop­u­la­tions of but­ter­flies and moths (order Lep­i­doptera), some of which cause dam­age to agri­cul­tural crops and pas­tures.

Be­cause meerkats are so­cial and eas­ily tamed, they are often used for sci­en­tific stud­ies re­gard­ing binoc­u­lar vi­sion. (Morán, et al., 1983; van Staaden, 1994)

• Positive Impacts
• research and education
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Meerkats are hosts to an array of ticks that con­tain tick-borne dis­eases, such as the African tick-bite fever (caused by the bac­te­ria species Rick­ettsia africae). Ad­di­tion­ally, meerkats are a vec­tor of ra­bies. Such dis­eases are trans­fer­able to hu­mans and do­mes­ti­cated an­i­mals and can cause ill­ness or death.

Meerkats are not ag­gres­sive, but they de­fend them­selves with sharp teeth and claws that can in­jure hu­mans. (Drewe, 2010; Nel, et al., 2005; van Staaden, 1994)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings
  • causes disease in humans
• causes or carries domestic animal disease

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Meerkats are con­sid­ered a species of “Least Con­cern” on the IUCN red list and are not listed in the CITES ap­pen­dices or on other na­tional or in­ter­na­tional con­ser­va­tion lists. There are meerkat pop­u­la­tions pre­sent within Kgala­gadi Trans­fron­tier Park and Mak­gadik­gadi Pans Na­tional Park, which are pro­tected areas within South Africa and Botswana, re­spec­tively. Al­though meerkats are con­sid­ered tobe wide­spread across south­ern Africa, local ex­tinc­tions can occur dur­ing dry years. (Clut­ton-Brock, et al., 1999b; King­don, et al., 2013; Mac­don­ald and Hoff­mann, 2014)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Tay­lor Hill (au­thor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Karen Pow­ers (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, April Tin­gle (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Emily Clark (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Cari Mc­gre­gor (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Jacob Vaught (ed­i­tor), Rad­ford Uni­ver­sity, Galen Bur­rell (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects.

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