What is a Meerkat?This is a featured page

What is a Meerkat? - Meerkat Manor InfoWhat is the Anatomy of a Meerkat?
The Meerkat is part of the Mongoose family, weighting in on 1.61 pounds for males and 1.58 pounds for females. Its distinct figure is a little bit different from the Mongooses.Its long slender body and limbs give it a body length of 10 to 14 inches and an added tail length of 7 to 10 inches. Its tail is rather long and thin compared to the mongooses bushy tail. Meerkats use there tails as a balance device while standing up on two feet, they also use it to keep track of everybody in there family. The Meerkat's face tapers, coming to a point at the nose, which the natural color is brown. Their eyes are black as when as the patches around them. Like cats, Meerkats have "binocular vision" which allows them to see large ranges, and depth preception, and their own eyes. At the end of a Meerkat's "fingers" is a non-retractable, 2cm long, curved claw used for digging underground burrows, digging for prey and climbing trees. They have four toes on each foot. Their coats are usually colored fawn colored peppered gray, tan or brown with a silver tint. They also have short parallel line across their backs.
What Does a Meerkat Eat?What is a Meerkat? - Meerkat Manor Info
The Meerkat is an Insectivore, which is a carnivore that eats insects, but Meerkats also eat lizards, snakes, spiders, plants, eggs and small mammals. Because they cannot store excess body fat, foraging is a daily need. Meerkats forage in a group usually with one Meerkat on guard, looking out for predators and trespassing Meerkat mobs (Family) while the other Meerkats are foraging.
Meerkat Reproduction
Meerkats become sexually mature at about one year old and usually produce 3 pups per litter. Wild Meerkats usually havWhat is a Meerkat? - Meerkat Manor Infoe 4 litters per year. Most Meerkat births usually occur in the warmer seasons. The largest, most common amount of pups in a litter is 4. Gestation (carrying embryos till full term) lasts for about 11 weeks. When they are born, they are born in the underground burrow and are incapable of moving around. Their ears open at 15 days of age, eyes at 10-14, and then they are introduced to solid foods at 49-63 days of age. The pups are brought up from the burrow at 21 days and stay with a babysitter until they can go out foraging with the rest of the group. Usually, The Dominant male and female of a group have mating rights and will kill any offspring that isn't there's so their pups get the best start in life. They may also evict or kill the mother that produced the unwanted pups. Other Meerkat groups are formed usually by evicted females and roving males.
What is a Meerkat? - Meerkat Manor InfoWhat is the behavior of a Meerkat?
Meerkats are very social. The usual Meerkat group hold up to 30 members. To strengthen their close family bond, they groom each other. The dominant pair usually scent mark the subordinates of the group to express their authority, and this is usually followed by the subordinates grooming the alphas and licking their faces. This behavior is also usually practiced when group members are reunited after a short period apart. Most meerkats in a group are all siblings and offspring of the dominant pair. When some Meerkats or the group are playing or foraging, there must be one or two adults on lookout for any dangers. When a danger is spotted, the Meerkat on lookout will give a loud warning bark and this signals the rest of the family to either flee the grounds in search of a bolt hole on their territory or to challenge the danger if its one of there own kind in a battle. Meerkats are also known to share their burrow with the Yellow Mongoose and ground squirrel, species with which they do not compete for resources. If they are unlucky, sometimes they share their burrow with snakes. Meerkats have been known to engage in social activities, including what appear to be wrestling matches and foot races.
It has recently been noted that meerkat calls may carry specific meanings, with specific calls alerting to the approach of snakes, birds of prey, or other predators. How these calls work is not clear.


It has also been noted that a researcher has witnessed Meerkats participating in some sort of singing ceremony.


Yelozo
Yelozo 		Latest page update: made by Yelozo , Aug 28 2007, 9:02 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Yelozo Edited by Yelozo

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