Have you ever seen meerkat? Facts about Meerkats will give you information about a small mammal which belong to the mongoose family. Suricata suricatta is the scientific name for Meerkat. Approximately, their size is around 12 inches in height and 2 pounds in weight. They live in the clumpy grassland and deserts areas such as South Africa, the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and Kalahari Desert in Botswana. There are still many information about meerkats that will be explained below.

Facts about Meerkats 1: The life span

The average life span of a Meerkat
is around 7 – 10 years in the wild and 12 – 14 years in the captivity.

Facts about Meerkats 2: Characteristics

Meerkats belong to cute animals. They have large eyes, pointed noses, tan or light brown fur, dark stripes in body, and thin tail. Sense of their smell, hearing, and eyesight are very excellent. From more than 300 meters away, they can spot the predators in the air. Besides, their fur also helps them to hide from predators and blend into the desert. Whereas their tail is used to balance when standing upright.

Facts about Meerkats 3: The predators of meerkats

Snakes, birds, and jackals are the predators of meerkats.

Facts about Meerkats 4: Diet

Meerkats belong to omnivores. They eat insects, plants, fruit, roots, bulbs, scorpions, lizards, mammals, eggs, reptiles, caterpillars, spider, fungi, and centipedes. Besides, they are immune to the poison or venom of some animals such as snakes and scorpions.

Facts about Meerkats 5: Adult meerkats

The size of adult meerkats are around 25 – 35 cm when standing upright. They teach young meerkats about what kind of diet that they should eat. Besides, they also will take care of them in shifts.

Facts about Meerkats 6: Pups

The children of meerkats are called as pups. When they were born, they were blind, hairless, and their ears are closed. Before ready to eat, pups will stay with their mother in the burrow of weeks. They also will hide if they meet pedators or see an airplane.

Facts about Meerkats 7: Digging

As we know that meerkats have strong, long, curved claws. That’s why they are very excellent at digging in burrows. The burrows can give them good protection from the hot desert sun.

Facts about Meerkats 8: Hunt

Meerkats work together while they hunt. When some members look out for the predators, another one work on the hunting strategy. They also use specific sounds to alert other members of the mob in danger situation.

Facts about Meerkats 9: Territorial animals

Meerkat mob will mark the territory with their scent. The size of their territory is around four square miles. They move around everyday with the territory to get food in different spots. Besides, they won’t allow another group to disturb their territory.

Facts about Meerkats 10: A group of meerkats

There are many name of family group of meerkats, such as mob, clan, or gang. The groups consist of
20-50 meerkats or 2-3 families of meerkats. The leader of the groups are an alpha pair.

We have talked facts about Meerkats. Do you have other facts about them? Let us know!