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Meerkat

Suricata suricatta

Description:

Brown mongoose with dark around eyes, inside of ears and mouth. It digs burrows and is a highly social animal that lives in groups called mobs, clans or gangs.

Habitat:

San Diego Zoo Safari Park. "Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa." - Wikipedia

Notes:

"Meerkats are primarily insectivores, but also eat lizards, snakes, scorpions, spiders, plants, eggs, small mammals, millipedes, centipedes and, more rarely, small birds. Meerkats are immune to certain types of venom; they are immune to the very strong venom of the scorpions of the Kalahari Desert, unlike humans. They have no excess body fat stores, so foraging for food is a daily need. Meerkats forage in a group with one "sentry" on guard watching for predators while the others search for food. Sentry duty is usually approximately an hour long.A meerkat can dig through a quantity of sand equal to its own weight in just seconds. Baby meerkats do not start foraging for food until they are about 1 month old, and do so by following an older member of the group who acts as the pup's tutor. The meerkat standing guard makes peeping sounds when all is well. If the meerkat spots danger, it barks loudly or whistles." - Wikipedia

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2 Comments

CindyBinghamKeiser
CindyBinghamKeiser 12 years ago

I agree. They're so much fun to watch :)

Seema
Seema 12 years ago

Each gesture of these critters induces laughter

San Diego, California, USA

Spotted on Apr 3, 2012
Submitted on Apr 5, 2012

Spotted for Mission

Related Spottings

Suricata Suricata Meerkat (suricata) Meerkat

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Reference

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