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Meerkat

Suricata suricatta

Description:

The meerkat is a small diurnal herpestid (mongoose) weighing on average about 731 grams (1.612 lb) for males and 720 grams (1.59 lb) for females. Its long slender body and limbs give it a body length of 25 to 35 centimetres (9.8 to 13.8 in) and an added tail length of 17 to 25 centimetres (6.7 to 9.8 in). Its tail is not bushy like many other mongoose species, but is rather long and thin and tapers to a black or reddish colored pointed tip. The meerkat uses its tail to balance when standing upright, as well as for signaling. Its face tapers, coming to a point at the nose, which is brown. The eyes always have black patches around them, and they have small black crescent-shaped ears that can close to exclude soil when digging. 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 centimetres (0.79 in) long, curved claw used for digging burrows and digging for prey. Claws are also used with muscular hindlegs to help climb trees. Meerkats have four toes on each foot and long slender limbs. The coat is usually fawn-colored 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. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meerkat

Notes:

Brevard Zoo

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2 Comments

Bhagya Herath
Bhagya Herath 9 years ago

soooo cute......

neilsfish
neilsfish 9 years ago

I like to call them "suricats" because of their Latin name :P

James McNair
Spotted by
James McNair

Melbourne, Florida, USA

Spotted on Oct 27, 2014
Submitted on Oct 31, 2014

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