Meerkat : Listen . . .
This image is included in 5 galleries:- 1) "Animal Kingdom G3" curated by morgonsilkstone, 2) "Great, fascinating and lovely animal shots" by frankie veldhoen, 3) "Nature" by Demeter Orsolya, 4) "Ville dyr 1" by Ellen Karine Andersen and 5) "Ville dyr 3" also by Ellen Karine Andersen.
The meerkat or suricate (Suricata suricatta) is a small carnivoran belonging to the mongoose family (Herpestidae). It is the only member of the genus Suricata. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan". A meerkat clan often contains about 20 meerkats, but some super-families have 50 or more members. In captivity, meerkats have an average life span of 12–14 years, and about half this in the wild.
There are three subspecies of meerkat: red, grey and slender-tailed, the subspecies at Werribee Open Range Zoo. They are small: 26–28cm (with a 22cm tail).
Primarily, meerkats are insectivores, which means most of their diet is made up of insects. However, they won't turn down a meal of small mammals, snakes and snake eggs, birds and bird eggs, grubs (an insect's wormlike larva) and even poisonous scorpions (they've perfected the scorpion hunt to avoid the venom).Meerkats spend a significant part of the day foraging for their food with their sensitive noses. When they find it, they eat on the spot. Their diet consists of roughly 82 percent insects, 7 percent spiders, 3 percent centipedes, 3 percent millipedes, 2 percent reptiles and 2 percent birds [source: University of Michigan]. Depending on what part of the Kalahari Desert meerkats call home, water can be scarce; but at the very least, it can be found in tubers and roots. (from a site hosted by Maria Trimarchi)
Meerkat : Listen . . .
This image is included in 5 galleries:- 1) "Animal Kingdom G3" curated by morgonsilkstone, 2) "Great, fascinating and lovely animal shots" by frankie veldhoen, 3) "Nature" by Demeter Orsolya, 4) "Ville dyr 1" by Ellen Karine Andersen and 5) "Ville dyr 3" also by Ellen Karine Andersen.
The meerkat or suricate (Suricata suricatta) is a small carnivoran belonging to the mongoose family (Herpestidae). It is the only member of the genus Suricata. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan". A meerkat clan often contains about 20 meerkats, but some super-families have 50 or more members. In captivity, meerkats have an average life span of 12–14 years, and about half this in the wild.
There are three subspecies of meerkat: red, grey and slender-tailed, the subspecies at Werribee Open Range Zoo. They are small: 26–28cm (with a 22cm tail).
Primarily, meerkats are insectivores, which means most of their diet is made up of insects. However, they won't turn down a meal of small mammals, snakes and snake eggs, birds and bird eggs, grubs (an insect's wormlike larva) and even poisonous scorpions (they've perfected the scorpion hunt to avoid the venom).Meerkats spend a significant part of the day foraging for their food with their sensitive noses. When they find it, they eat on the spot. Their diet consists of roughly 82 percent insects, 7 percent spiders, 3 percent centipedes, 3 percent millipedes, 2 percent reptiles and 2 percent birds [source: University of Michigan]. Depending on what part of the Kalahari Desert meerkats call home, water can be scarce; but at the very least, it can be found in tubers and roots. (from a site hosted by Maria Trimarchi)