Meerkat

Meerkats live in colonies of up to 30 individuals. Each colony can consist of up to five nests and can have a territory of up to 15 square kilometres. In the colony, the work is divided so that some are hunters, others look after the chicks and others are sentinels.

The group cohesion allows the meerkats to chase away animals much larger than themselves.
The meerkat's tail is used for signalling and as a balance pole. It also has a very keen sense of smell.

Meerkats can also withstand bites from scorpions and snakes and can dig away as much sand as they weigh in seconds.

As night falls, meerkats retreat to their underground tunnels, which they sometimes share with other animals, especially chipmunks and fox mice.

• Distribution: In savannahs and open plains, scrub and grasslands in Angola, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa
• Population: Not threatened
• Weight: 900 grams
• Body length: 50 centimetres from nose to tip of tail
• Sexual maturity: From around 1 year of age
• Gestation: 11 weeks
• Number of chicks: 2-5 per litter
• Food: Primarily insects that are excavated, for example beetle larvae, pupae and butterflies, termites, spiders. Sometimes scorpions, lizards, amphibians and even snakes
• Zoo menu: Fruit and vegetables, crickets, cockroaches, grasshoppers, mice, hamsters, meat cuts, boiled eggs and raw egg yolks.
• Lifespan: 10 years
• Latin name: Suricata suricatta