A Wild Day for Meerkats!
They’re bursting with energy and live in tight-knit clans: meerkats have their own world day, and it’s being celebrated today! Amusing, fascinating, and intriguing, these small mammals are among the Zoo’s fan favorites! Known to many as Timon, the spirited meerkat from The Lion King, this insectivore from the mongoose family is famous for its upright stance, standing on its hind legs to scan the Southern African plains where it lives. Curious to learn more? Let’s take you inside a meerkat mob!
From one tunnel to another!
A small animal with a slender body and elongated head, the meerkat moves nimbly through its burrow tunnels: digging is what it LOVES most!
A group's territory can span about 15 km² and may include up to five underground shelters.
The benefit of having multiple shelters is the ability to move when food sources are depleted around the original burrow. Tunnels can reach depths of up to 2.0 meters and help protect the group from predators.
During the day, meerkats usually remain within 200 meters of a burrow entrance, ready to dart back inside at the first warning call.
It's all about communication!
Communication plays a crucial role in meerkat society. They use at least ten distinct vocalizations.
Throughout the day, clan members emit small calls to maintain group cohesion and prevent individuals from straying too far.
When danger is detected, they produce alarm calls whistles and barks, to alert the group.
Interestingly, their calls differ depending on whether the threat comes from the ground or the sky.
The role of sentinel, rotated among group members, is to keep watch. While others forage or rest, the sentinel stands at the highest vantage point, scanning for potential threats.
A surprisingly strong predator
Though they primarily feed on insects, meerkats won’t turn down small vertebrates, scorpions, or even cobras! These slithering predators can quickly become prey when a united meerkat mob confronts them. Like most mongooses, meerkats have a natural resistance to venom, giving them a better chance of surviving a bite. When it comes to scorpions, they’ve perfected a hunting strategy: facing the arachnid, they strike swiftly at the tail, separating the stinger from the body and rendering the scorpion harmless.
At Zoo de Granby, six meerkats—four females and two males—call our African trail home, delighting visitors daily! While meerkats are not currently classified as threatened, they are still impacted by habitat changes, largely driven by human activities and climate change. Since all species are interconnected, what affects one inevitably affects others in the ecosystem. Let’s hope the meerkat never has to face extinction.
