Meerkat

Description:

This meerkat was getting some sun on a gorgeuos day and posing quite nicely! This is the first of three meerkats i photographed on this zoo trip (see the second at http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/276...). The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan". A meerkat clan often contains about 20 meerkats, but some super-families have 50 or more members. In captivity, meerkats have an average life span of 12–14 years, and about half this in the wild.

Habitat:

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. In the wild, 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.