Meerkats have been studied for many years by different groups of scientists. As a result of research on meerkats, many interesting facts have become known.
At the head of each clan is a meerkat dominant female and male. Matriarchy reigns in the family, and the female can exceed the size of the male.
Groups of meerkats sometimes have up to 50 individuals.
Meerkats every day produce food in different parts of their territory, so that the earth can recover.
There are often skirmishes between family clans over the territory. Such confrontations often end in a fatal outcome for members of hostile families.
Females can have up to 7 young in one litter.
A female can feed young people with milk, even if she never gave birth.
Meerkats dig holes up to 1.5 meters deep. Pits they use as a dwelling or as shelter from predators.
Meerkats have a very developed sense of smell. They can smell the prey even under a thick layer of sand.
If there is a threat of attack from the air, the meerkats hide in shelters in their territories. There can be as many as such shelters for a family, but every member of the family knows where they are.
Meerkat have more than 30 variants of screaming, each of which has its own meaning. For example, means a ground threat or a threat from the air, the convocation of the entire family and so on.
Before going on a hunt, the mink surfaced in the sun to restore body temperature after a cold desert night.
Meerkats are able to see a predator at a distance of 1 kilometer.
The meerkats eat mostly insects. A favorite delicacy is scorpions. The poison of a scorpion for a meerkat is dangerous, but not fatal. And they have immunity to most of the poisons of African snakes.
In some regions of Africa, the meerkats are kept as pets for catching snakes, scorpions and small rodents.
In the wild, the meerkats live on average 3 to 6 years, in captivity can live up to 14 years.
